A Guardian's Tale
by SpikeDawg45
Summary: Kyra, a Guardian from her homeland, joins the Gaang on an adventure that could drasticly change her life. With the help of new friends will she accept who she is? Or will she fall into the dark depts of despair and risk losing what little family she has.
1. Chapter 1: The Mysterious Girl

** I came up with this while I was trying to fall asleep one night and I just couldn't get it out of my head. So I began to write it down, and I thought I'd post it here on fanfict. So yeah . . . this is my own character I made up and I guess this is her side of the adventure she takes with the Gaang. At first I wanted to write this in third person, but since I'm a tad bit lazy I wrote it in first person. Besides I think I write better in first than in third. (And to tell the truth I don't think I wrote this very well, yep this is definately not my best work. Maybe if it's any good I might go back and fix a few things.) :)**

**Disclamer: I do not own the show Avatar: The Last Airbender, other wise I probably would have made it longer.**

I ran through the dark forest, trying to escape my pursuers. All the while I held onto the side of my stomach in pain. I ducked under branches and jumped over bushes as I ran at an impossible speed. As soon as I was sure that I couldn't hear the running footsteps of my pursuers, I stopped and sat down next to a tree. Usually I didn't tire so easily, but the deep wound was really doing a number on me. Hesitantly I lifted my hand from the wound and looked down. There was blood all over my grey and black tunic; my hand was covered in it as well. My heart rate increased at the sight of so much blood and I was beginning to panic, Take it easy Kyra it's just blood, I thought to myself as I took deep breaths through my mouth and exhaling through my nose.

Before getting up I rubbed my dog tag necklace in my pocket and listened carefully for any sign that I was still being pursued; I heard nothing except for the music of the wildlife in the forest. I stood and quickly limped through the forest, trying to get as far as possible. Feeling another jolt of pain I collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

_I walked out of my hut into the warm sunlight, taking in the warmth. People were hurriedly walking around in the village, busy with their own tasks. It was my birthday today so my father, the chief of our tribe, was preparing a feast and party for this occasion. I argued with him at first, telling him I didn't need a party, and that I didn't like to be pampered like this. Despite my argument he organized the party anyway._

_I just wanted to talk with my best friend Ulric and release my frustrations. I walked towards a flowing river our village was next to, this was where we usually met, and waited. Soon enough Uric came walking out of the trees, but something was wrong he didn't wear that happy-go-lucky smile he usually wore. He had a sense of urgency on his face, and I didn't like it. He walked up to me and hugged me saying, "I'm sorry I couldn't protect us."_

_"What are you talking about?" I said, a little bit worried._

_"I'm so sorry." He said once again, holding me tightly._

_Suddenly the environment changed. Ulric disappeared and my whole village was engulfed in flames. I saw fire nation soldiers killing my people, my friends, my family. All the while the general of the fire nation soldiers yelled, "Where is it!"_

_In the distance I saw Ulric fighting ferociously with his sword. He was parrying and dodging until one fire nation soldier snuck up behind him and knocked him unconscious. Then I saw my Father also fighting, he was knocking out soldiers left and right. Then the general fire bended at my Father, making him stumble back. He was unable to regain his composure and the general, seeing an opening, pulled out a dagger and struck him in the heart. I saw my Father fall to the ground . . . dead._

_Then my vision shifted to after the battle. Ulric was being dragged away by fire nation soldiers to their ships. I was horrified, everything was burned down, destroyed; everyone was killed, except for Ulric. I saw my father's body lying on the ground, I ran to him. Falling to my knees I hugged him crying. I looked up and saw my supposed fiancé, he was running at me. When he got close enough he kicked a flame at me and . . ._

I heard someone talking to me, opening my eyes I saw a boy with a blue arrow tattoo on his head and grey eyes, "Hey, are you okay? Do you need help?"

"Huh?" I said, my eyes slowly adjusting to the light.

"Are you ok?" he repeated patiently.

Struggling to sit up I said, "I think so."

I felt a stinging pain on my side again. Touching my wound and then looking at my hand I saw more blood. I suddenly became light headed again, as I stood up. The boy widened his eyes at the blood and said, "Come on, I'll take you my camp I have a friend who can heal you."

He put my arm around his shoulder and helped me walk.

"Thanks." I said.

He looked at me and gave me a handsome smile saying, "It's no problem. I'm Aang, what's your name?"

Looking at him I said, "Kyruna, but you can call me Kyra."

"That's a pretty name" he said, smiling.

I blushed at the compliment, wait a second, I blushed? No way.

We neared his camp which was inside of a cave, and Aang called out to his friends, "Hey guys come out here. We need your help!"

Two boys and two girls came out. One of the girls said, "We?"

"Yeah, this is Kyra and she's badly injured. Katara can you heal her?" he said.

A girl wearing red and black fire nation clothes walked up. She had long dark chocolate brown hair and she wore two hair loopies on the left and right side of her head. My eyes widened at the obvious fact that these people were all wearing fire nation clothing; I hoped they wouldn't turn me in. Katara looked at me worridly and said, "Sure, where's she hurt?"

I pointed to my large wound and Katara gasped. They laid me down on a sleeping bag and Katara instructed me to stay still. I did so and she bended water from her pouch that was hung around her shoulder onto her hand, making it glow an ominous blue color. She put her hand on my wound and I winced at the cold touch. After a few minutes Katara lifted her hand and bended the water back to her pouch. I looked at my wound and it was nearly healed. Then my wound began to heal completely, by itself, right in front of my eyes.

"What just happened?" asked a wide eyed Katara, she'd seen my quick healing.

"Uh, nothing; you healed me." I quickly said.

Katara looked suspiciously at me, but then shrugged. Standing I looked at Aang and then Katara and said, "Thank you for helping me. I need to leave now; can you point me to the nearest town I can get food?"

"The nearest town is due west, but that's a week's hike. You can eat with us if you want." said Aang.

"I don't want to impose . . ." I said reluctantly.

"No really it's ok, we have plenty of food."

"Ok."

"By the way this is Zuko, Sokka, and Toph." said Katara gesturing to the rest of the group.

I shook their hands as we walked into the cave. As soon as I entered I felt something sticky and wet go up my back. I turned around and saw a big fluffy monster with six legs and a fluffy beaver-like tail and a grey arrow on its head, I jumped back saying, "What's that?"

Aang walked up to the monster and pet it on its nose, "This is Appa, my flying bison." He faced Appa and said, "Appa meet Kyra."

Once again Appa licked me making me all wet and sticky. "He's very friendly." I said, a little disgusted and amused.

"That's weird, it takes a while for him to get used to strangers. But he seems to really like you."

Still a little wet I looked at Aang with a sarcastic smile and said, "Yippee."

Then another creature flew onto Aang's shoulder wrapping its tail around his bald head. "Oh, and this is Momo, my flying lemur."

Momo tilted its head and stared at me. He was white and brown and had very big ears and two white rings circling the tip of his long tail. He also had big unforgettable green eyes. Other than the big ears and wings, he looked like a normal monkey.

We sat down on the logs they used for chairs and waited as Katara prepared the dinner. Sokka, who had his hair in a wolf tail and held a boomerang close at hand, looked at me suspiciously. I began to feel uncomfortable until he said, "So Kyra, what happened to you?"

"Um . . ." I was going to lie, but decided against it. "I was attacked by fire benders."

After I said that he stared at me narrowing his eyes, and looking me over. Then he widened his eyes and said, "Hey! You're that girl on the fire nation wanted posters. There's a huge reward for you!"

Aang piped up saying, "Oh yeah, the poster said you're wanted by the fire lord."

Zuko, who had a scar over his left eye, began to stare at me as well. I sighed and said, "You guys are going to turn me in aren't you?"

"What? No, we wouldn't do that." said Aang, looking surprised.

"Oh, I thought since they wanted me for a lot of money you –"

Interrupting me Sokka smiled and said, "Nope, any enemy of the fire lord is a friend of ours."

I thanked him as Katara handed me some rice and chop sticks. "Do you want any meat?" she asked.

"No thanks, I'm a vegetarian." I said beginning to eat.

"Really? Me too!" said Aang smiling happily.

As everyone ate, I looked at Aang's arrows. I thought he looked very familiar. Then I remembered seeing a poster of him in a few cities I've been to. I thought flying bison were extinct, I've never even really seen one except in story books.

"You're the Avatar aren't you?" I asked Aang.

He nodded, smiling. And then Sokka stood up abruptly and put his fist in the air yelling, "And together we're Team Avatar!"

As he sat down Toph, who's blind, punched him hard making him lose his balance and fall over, "OW! Why'd you do that?"

Toph faced his general direction and said, "I told you not to say that again."

Sokka sat down grumbling to himself as Katara sat with us. Looking at me she said, "So where are you from?"

"Far away." I simply said, not wanting to tell them where I'm really from.

"You look like you're from the fire nation. I mean, you have light skin." said Zuko.

"No I'm not from the fire nation, but I live near that region." I said, trying to avoid the question.

Finishing our food I put down my bowl and stood saying, "Thanks for the food, and for healing me. I need to head out and get as far away from here as I can."

"Where are you gonna go?" asked Katara.

I thought about that, and realized that I really had no clue of where to go. Holding my chin thinking I said, "You know . . . that's a good question."

"You can travel with us if you want. I'm sure the fire nation won't expect that you're with us, and we need all the help we can get if we're to fight the fire nation." said Aang, looking at me expectantly.

"Trust me; you wouldn't want me traveling with you guys." I said, turning around and walking outside.

"Well, why not." asked Toph, looking at me like she knew what I was going to say.

"Because" Facing Toph, I took a deep breath, "I'm too dangerous to be around."

"What do you mean?" asked Aang.

"Yes, Kyra whatever do you mean." said a sarcastic voice.

** Please review because I want to know if I should post the rest of the pages I got so far. I'm pretty sure I have a few misspelled words here and there, but anyway please no flames. Consturctive critisizm is MUCH appreciated. (This is my first fanfict posted here so I'm a little excited to see what people think.)**


	2. Chapter 2: Kyra's Legacy

**So I decided to post the next chapter of "A Guardian's Tale." I think this is turning out pretty well, but I think I would made a few changes . . . eh, I'll see what the readers think. I'm just happy to finally get this typed cause I couldn't get this story out of my head. It's like there's someone in my head, nagging me to post it somewhere. So yeah, i hope you like it. **

**Previously in Chapter 1:**

_ "Trust me; you wouldn't want me traveling with you guys." I said, turning around and walking outside._

_ "Well, why not." asked Toph, looking at me like she knew what I was going to say._

_ "Because" Facing Toph, I took a deep breath, "I'm too dangerous to be around."_

_ "What do you mean?" asked Aang._

_ "Yes, Kyra whatever do you mean." said a sarcastic voice from behind._

** Chapter 2: Kyra's Legacy**

I knew exactly who it was, Ulgar. He emerged from the forest with a smug grin on his face. Everyone got in their fighting stances, except for me and Ulgar. I folded my arms and said, "Where are your fighting minions, Ulgar? Or have you built up enough courage to actually fight me?"

He smiled at this, "Oh, they're not here. I've decided to ask you to come peacefully this time, because of our past relationship." He looked over at Aang, "Oh and you're with the Avatar! Good, double the money."

"We had no relationship, you traitor."

Aang, Katara, Zuko, Toph, and Sokka all looked very confused as to what was happening. I'll probably have to tell them everything when this is over, I thought.

"Well, that's too bad. Guess I'll have to take you and the Avatar by force!" he said fire bending at me.

I jumped pack and everyone behind me stepped up to try and attack, but I motioned them to stop. "This is my fight." I simply said.

Ulgar began to punch fire toward me, and I jumped up very high and landed on a tree branch. He set the tree on fire and I jumped out towards Ulgar, landing a drop kick on his head. He went tumbling back, and I glanced at the gang, who seemed very surprised at me. I turned to Ulgar who was now on his feet waiting for my next move. He kicked sending fire at me, and I ducked as the fire barely missed my head. He continued kicking fire at me while I tried getting closer to him. He noticed I was too close, so he swung his arm at my head. I deflected his arm with my own and jabbed him in the face and stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

He wheezed saying, "Come Kyra, why don't you try bending at me? Show your friends what you can do. Or are you just as weak as your father. In fact the general told me, he wasn't even much of a fight. Humph typical, he wasn't a very strong man or a brave one at that."

Now he really ticked me off. I sent a huge blast of air in his direction, making him hit a tree. I ran right up to him, holding him up against the tree by his throat. He tried to pry my hands off him, but I wasn't going to let him go. I looked into his turquoise eyes, and I saw hatred and fear. Giving him an angry glare I said, "You can say what you want about me, but don't you ever insult my father. He was twice the man you'll ever be," I slightly squeezed his throat, "I can snap your neck and kill you right now, but I won't." Letting go I let him drop to the ground. He struggled to breathe as he kneeled on the ground.

"If I see you again, I will not hesitate to kill you on the spot. Now GO!" I yelled bending air at him to push him back.

He got up and held his stomach, "You know . . . you have nowhere to go. Everyone is afraid of and hates your kind. But either way I will find you and I will take you to the fire lord."

He ran, disappearing into the forest. I turned around to face the jaw dropped faces of my new friends. "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do, huh?"

They nodded their heads, with their mouths still open. We walked into the cave and sat down. Zuko lit the fire, since it was getting dark. When he sat down he asked, "Did you just air bend back there?"

"Yes, I did."

Aang looked at me, "Why didn't you tell us you where an air bender? Now I'm not the last one."

"No, you are the last Air Nomad. I'm not an Air Nomad, nor have I ever been to any of the Air Nomad temples."

"Then where are you really from?" asked Sokka.

"I'm from an island near the fire nation. No one really knows of it except for the fire nation, and me. My island was called Amak, meaning 'mother wolf'. Because that's where my kind originated from." I said, remembering my homeland.

Toph looked very interested at what I just said, "What do you mean 'your kind'?"

"Ok, let me start from the beginning. This will be pretty long so ask questions when I'm done."

Everyone nodded and got comfortable, waiting for me to continue. I sighed and rested my elbows on my knees, "I lived in a tribe, much like one of the water tribes except in a warmer place. My tribe was named WolfPaw. I had two parents. My father was chief of the tribe, but . . . my mother died during my birth." I tried hard not to cry and glance at Katara who showed compassion in her eyes, "My best friend Ulric, whom I have known since I was very little, was like a brother to me. He protected me whenever I was in trouble. We had many people in my tribe a lot of them I knew very well. Three months ago, my village was attacked by the fire nation. We kept the location of our island a secret and didn't suspect anyone knew, so we weren't ready for the invasion. They were looking for me, but I wasn't there. I was in a secret chamber, studying books on air bending, in a different location on the island. When I came back Ulric was being dragged away to their ships, and my . . ." I stopped as a tear ran down my cheek, "my . . . village was in ruins, and my father lay on the battle field among the other bodies. They killed him."

Katara sat down next to me and put a comforting arm around my shoulder. I looked at her and smiled a little, seeing she had some tears in her eyes as well. "As for your question Toph," I began, "I'm not like any of you, I am a werewolf. But a hundred years ago we used to be called guardians. I am part wolf and part human. I can transform into a wolf standing eight feet tall. We can run as fast as air benders and are stronger than komodo rhinos. Our senses are very much heightened. And we can heal faster than any human, unless the wound is too big. When very angry or when feeling any strong emotion we change. We can change whenever we want if we can master our rage. But if not mastered then we change by either feeling great anger or by every full moon. And it hurts a lot." I rubbed my arms feeling a cold breeze.

"There is only one guardian born every hundred years. We were meant to protect our own island, but soon when we realized we can do much more, we began to help the Avatar with keeping balance." I turned to Aang who looked very confused at the moment.

"But we didn't help a lot; the Avatar did most of the work since nobody feared him or her. And plus we weren't very good with political business, but that's beside the point. Our bending, on the other hand, has nothing to do with when or where we are born; it's determined by which original bending the Avatar had, except we had the opposite. So if the Avatar is a . . . fire bender, for example, then the guardian would be a water bender. In this case though, I should've been an earth bender but because of the Avatar's disappearance; in the last hundred years the earth bending guardian has long past, along with the water bending guardian that came after. We heard from many of our own people, who lived in different parts of the world, that the fire nation had found out about the Guardians and so many bounty hunters were sent on a mission to kill every guardian that was born because we were considered a threat. They were paid a lot of money." Anger burned in my eyes as I stared into the campfire.

Then I resumed my explanation still staring into the fire, "Years later no one else came to the island, so we assumed we'd be in the clear. Unfortunately we were sadly mistaken, Ulgar the fire nation soldier who attacked me today was supposed to be my husband to be. We were engaged, it was an arranged marriage. I never liked the guy, he's stuck up, VERY arrogant, and too proud for his own good. The only reason my father wanted me to marry him was because he was the best fire bender in our village, and thought he could protect me." Looking away from the fire, I huffed, "As if I need protection. Anyway, he betrayed us; somehow he alerted the fire nation of where our island was and told them of me. They invaded looking for me, and in the process killing every girl in the village. When they didn't find me they killed everyone else alive, except Ulric and Ulgar. They took Ulric to question him, and Ulgar joined the fire nation army. He got a badge for his heroic duty." I said sarcastically, I stood up and stared out the cave. "They were being killed, because of me. MY father died protecting me and I was somewhere studying, reading BOOKS!" I yelled, "I should've helped them, instead I let them die" I closed my eyes, "what kind of a guardian am I?" I said hanging my head low and my fists clenched.

Katara walked up to me and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. Small tears were forming in my eyes, not wanting them to see me I stared up into the sky, "I should've been there. I should've turned myself in, they would've been spared."

Katara looked me straight in the eyes, and I saw that she understood how I felt. I felt like she had been through a similar loss, "My mother was killed by fire benders in a raid. They were looking for a water bender, they were looking for me. My mother sacrificed herself for me because she loved me and didn't want to see me get hurt. . ." She reached to her neck and slightly touched a water tribe necklace she had on. I glanced over at the others and saw Sokka had hung his head low, thinking. I suspected he was Katara's brother.

Katara spoke again, "just like your father and tribe had sacrificed themselves to save you." Turning to me she said, "What happened to them is not your fault."

"If only that were true." I said solemnly, staring at the sky.

**Thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you think. So far I got good reviews so this is basicly what's urging me to post the rest of this story. I'll get to writing chapter 3 right now and post it as soon as I can. But expect it tommorow most likely. Here's a special thanks to: "avatarflamefan8" and "i love athrun" for being my first reviewers and for writing such great reviews. I'm very happy to see that some people actually took the time to read my story and actually LIKE IT! I'm VERY happy right now! :) **

** Again thanks for reading and please review. Stay tuned for the next chapter pwease! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3: The Promise

**K so here's chapter 3. This chapter is more like a filler chapter, I just wanted to point out some character development here. Not much to say on this chapter. ON WITH THE STORY! :)**

**Disclamer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, BUT I DO own my character Kyra. So HA! XD**

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** Chapter 3: The Promise**

Sokka looked at me in disbelief, "So, you're not human?"

"I'm human, just . . . not completely human." I said.

Zuko finished tending the fire and looked at me, "I'm sorry . . . for what happened."

"Don't be it's not your fault." I said staring at my feet.

"No, but it is. It's because of my family that this happened." Saying this I realized that he was prince Zuko, son of Ozai, The Fire Lord.

Turning to him, completely serious I said, "But I don't blame you, Ulgar betrayed us after all. It's because of him I lost my people . . . and my dad. It's because of him the fire nation knew."

Zuko looked a little grateful that I didn't blame him for what happened. I suppose a lot of people blamed him for the wrong doing of the fire nation.

"I know how you feel," Aang said turning to me, "to have your people taken away, your friends, your family. I'm sorry for your loss." He said, with a sad but understanding expression on his face.

I gave him a small reassuring smile and nodded.

"So, why did Ulgar say that people hated your kind? Shouldn't they love you because you helped the Avatar keep balance and save people?" exclamed Toph, crossing her arms.

I frowned, "The war has changed people, the fire nation spread rumors and propagandas that guardians where just monsters sent from the spirit world to prey on mortals. They even said on the posters that I'm considered a murderer. I haven't killed anyone in my life!" I yelled raising my arms.

"That's horrible." said Katara in disbelief, "To be judged by who you are and resented for that, is completely unfair."

"They just don't want anyone helping me and making their search for me harder." I said sighing, "And now that Ulgar found me, letting me travel with you will only make your journey harder. You should just leave me behind, I can survive on my own; I have for the past three months." I looked down not facing them, completely sure they were going to leave me behind.

"No." I looked up and saw Aang staring at me. He looked into my eyes and said, "You're coming with us, we're not leaving you behind just because you're a werewolf. We're not like them."

I looked at everyone else and they nodded in agreement. "Thank you; it's a relief to know there are still caring people in this world."

They all smiled, except for Zuko who looked preoccupied with something else. I smiled too, for the first time in my life I actually felt like I was supposed to be here. I felt . . . wanted, or accepted in a way.

"Where are you guys headed?" I asked.

Zuko gave the dying campfire more fuel by fire bending and said, "We're headed to my family's old vacation home on Ember Island. We haven't been there in years, which will be the last place they'll expect us hiding out."

I nodded and relaxed a little bit. Then Sokka looked up, seeming worried. "Wait, what about that Ulgar guy? He probably told the fire nation we're here. We have to go now!"

Sokka suddenly stood and was about to go pack. He stopped expecting everyone to follow. "Don't worry; I hurt him pretty badly with those blows. It'll take him a few days at best to get to his fort." I said motioning him to sit down.

Katara stood and collected all of the dishes saying, "So we should get a full night's sleep today, and head out tomorrow morning."

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Everyone was getting ready to go to sleep and I was already on a sleeping bag that Aang gave me. I looked over at Sokka who had everything perfectly set up in his area. He laid down holding his boomerang and closed his eyes. He had his sword lying next to him; Sokka called it his, space sword? I think? Anyway a few minutes passed and everyone were already in their separate sleeping backs except for Aang who slept on his bison's fluffy tail and Toph who made a rock tent with earth bending. All was quiet, well except for Sokka's loud obnoxious snoring.

Suddenly I heard rumbling, as if the ground were shaking, and Sokka went flying into the cave wall next to him waking him up. I heard Toph yelling from her tent, "BE QUIET SNOOZLES. WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!"

Sokka sat up holding his now bruised head, grumbling to himself. I heard him say something like, 'if only I could push her off a cliff' and, 'earth bending is a curse'. The next thing I knew the ground began to shake again and a small rock pillar propelled Sokka into the cave's ceiling. He yelped as he fell back to the ground. "I may be blind, but I'm not deaf snoozles!"

I stood up and walked out the cave into the moonlight as Sokka scooted over to the farthest corner in the cave from Toph. As if that'll help. I laughed to myself as I looked up at the now nearly full moon. _I'm happy to have come upon such nice people. They make me feel like I'm home, treating me like a part of the family._ "They sure do fight like brother and sister." I whispered to myself, thinking about Toph and Sokka's antics.

The moon seemed so bright that night. When its light shines on me I feel like it gives me more strength. No matter how much I feel like giving up, one look at the moon just helps me keep moving, keep believing.

I was lost in my thoughts staring at the moon when someone walked up behind me. "Is anything wrong?"

I quickly spun around in my fighting stance only to end up seeing Aang looking at me, seeming a little concerned. "Oh, it's you. You scared me."

He grinned, "Sorry, for sneaking up on you like that. I just saw you leave the cave and thought something was wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, I just came out to look at the moon." I said turning back to the sky "It's almost full."

"Are you scared . . . you know, of changing when the full moon rises?"

"Yeah, actually I am. I've heard stories in my tribe, of a guardian's first change during a full moon. They said bones would relocate and that it felt like burning coal in your body." I closed my eyes for a second. "It's very scary to think about, especially since I'll be experiencing it soon."

Aang stared at me worridly; he didn't say anything for a while. Then he looked down at his feet and said, "Just know that I'll be here for you when it does happen. I know that I've only just met you, but I feel like I've known you before like in a past life or something."

"Well, the guardian is reborn every time he or she dies, like the Avatar, so maybe we have known each other in a past life one time." I said staring thoughtfully at him.

I pulled out my dog tag and looked at it. "I just hope I don't hurt anyone when I change."

Aang looked at me, confusion written all over his face. "Why do you say that?"

I slid the dog tag necklace over my head, putting it on. "It is said that if the guardian can't control its rage long enough, or if he or she is just a real angry person. Then the guardian can hurt anybody, even their friends." I turned around "Just promise me one thing Aang, if I do end up attacking you guys do not hesitate to fight me. And don't hold anything back. I'll try my best to control myself, but it'll be hard. Especially since this is only my first change. Promise me that."

He looked at me, confused and worried. He hesitated, I could tell he really didn't want to hurt me even if I do try and attack. "I promise."

"Thanks." I said and went back to the sleeping bag to get some sleep. For a second I felt like someone was staring at me from behind. I turned around just to see Aang turn around right before I looked at him. I thought I was just imagining it, so I lay down and closed my eyes trying to get to sleep. Aang followed after me a few moments later. It was going to be a long day tomorrow, I could tell.

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**Thanks for reading and please review! And tell me what you think about Kyra so far. I know she seems kinda sad now, but she going through a tough time. I promise there she won't be so sad throughout the whol story.**

**Please review (If you press the "Review Story" button I'll give you a cookie!) ok maybe I won't but it'll motivate me to continue on with the story. XD**


	4. Chapter 4: A Fight For Another's Freedom

**Well, here's Chapter 4! YAY! I made this chapter especially long because I'm having a very good day. AND because I got a great review. So 'Sapafiregirl', this chapter is for you. And you don't need to worry because I will be continueing this story as long as people keep reading and reveiwing. By the way, I'm really liking your story Into The Inferno. The best fanfcit I read in a long time. :)**

** Anyway, I've work real hard on this chap cuz i wanted to make the right scenes longer than i usually would make them. So yeah I'll stop yammering cuz my fingers are killing me! **

**Disclamer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I can dream can't I?**

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** Chapter 4: A Fight For Another's Freedom**

We had a good start that morning, I helped my new friends pack up and check if we had everything and we were ready to leave. Except I realized one thing, we were going to fly. And let's just say I don't do very well in the sky, even if I am an air bender.

As we soared through the sky, I looked uneasily down at the ground from the saddle we used to fly on the bison. Sokka, Zuko, Toph, Katara and I were all sitting on the saddle. Aang was sitting on Appa's head steering the fluffy beast.

I looked over at Aang and said, "Is this safe?"

He glanced at me for a second, "Yeah, we do this all the time. We never had any serious accidents."

"Great." I muttered sarcastically.

"Don't like flying either?" Asked Toph, who seemed to clutch the side of the saddle for dear life.

"Can't say; this is the first time I've ever flown."

"What?" Questioned a surprised Aang, "But you're an air bender. Haven't you ever flown on a glider?"

"I never had a glider." I replied, "And even if I did I wouldn't be able to fly it, because it would attract unwanted attention."

"I can show you how to use one if you want."

"Sure, that'd be great!" I said excitedly.

I turned to Katara, "Hey Katara you're a master water bender right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" she asked looking at me curiously.

"You have this strong aura of a water bender around you. I can tell. Guardians are lightly connected to the spirit world, so I can sense things like these."

"Wow" She said intrigued.

Sokka suddenly looked interested and started to jump a little in place excitedly, "What can you tell about me?"

I thought a little, this was harder because he had such mixed energy but finally I said, "Well, I can tell you are a strong warrior." At this Sokka puffed his chest out proudly, then I added, "Also that you hurt yourself a lot."

Sokka crossed his arms in defiance, "I do not!"

"Yeah, you kinda do." said Katara amusingly.

"Humph!" replied Sokka, refusing to agree.

I reached into my shirt and pulled out my dog tag, taking it off my neck. I got the dog tag from my father when he found out I was the next guardian. It had my name engraved on it, the name of our village and island, also the symbol of the air nomads. At first I refused to wear it, because I didn't want to accept that I was a monster but now the dog tag was the only thing I had left of my father.

"What's that?" asked Katara, looking over at my dog tag.

"Oh, this? My dad made this for me. It has my name and the name of our village and island engraved on it. Every guardian has something like this." I replied, tracing the decorative lines on the dog tag.

"And the symbol of the air nomads on it signifies you're an air bender, right?"

"Yeah"

I held my dog tag, thinking about my father and all the things we used to do together. I missed him, and I wished that we had more time to spend together. I put my dog tag on as a tear escaped my eye. I quickly wiped it away, before anyone saw it. I looked down at the ground below and I noticed we were nearing a small secluded village.

Aang turned around and said, "We need to make a quick pit stop, for supplies."

When we landed everyone jumped off and stretched their legs. I felt a sudden pain in my stomach and I groaned leaning over slightly. Zuko noticed me holding my stomach and looked at me quizzically, "Are you ok?"

"I'm alright; it's just a stomach ache. It happens whenever there will be a full moon." I said, still holding my stomach.

He nodded but seemed unsure if I really was ok. Before we entered the village, we put on cloaks so that we wouldn't be recognized. As we entered it seemed more and more apparent that we didn't need the cloaks, because the village was occupied by thugs and bandits who didn't seem to care about people visiting the place. There were many shady looking characters lining the streets, looking at us like we were some kind of new meat for them to devour.

We stopped in front of a shack that had various types of meats hanging in the window sill. Aang and I refused to enter the place, since we were vegetarians, so the rest of the gang went in to browse different types of meats. But Sokka seemed to be the one most excited because as soon as he caught the smell of the T-bones and chicken-pig sticks he drooled at the mouth. I leaned against the outside wall of the shack and waited. I thought it was going to be rather boring just waiting there, but fortunately Aang decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, when did you decide to be a vegetarian?" He asked, turning to me.

"Since I was very little, but I never decided to be a vegetarian. I have to be one because I'm a werewolf and it could be very dangerous for us to eat a lot of meat; we would go on an eating frenzy. It wasn't hard for me to stop eating meat though; always liked vegetables." I said.

He nodded thoughtfully and said, "The monks taught me that all life is sacred even the smallest spider fly, so since as long as I can remember I've been a vegetarian."

"The Air Nomad culture is very interesting. I used to read books on it all the time, but I didn't get too far, because I needed to focus on learning new air bending techniques."

"So how far were you in the air bending lessons?" he asked.

"I had already mastered it; I was supposed to get my tattoos the day my village was attacked. I created this move called discus, which is when you send air discs slicing at your opponent."

Aang's eyes widened a little and he suddenly seemed very excited, "Can you show me that move later?"

"Sure, we could even –" I stopped talking when I saw a cage in the middle of the street, which I hadn't noticed before. In the cage was a black and white colored wolf, his fur was covered in filth and he looked like he hadn't been fed in weeks. Wolves were native only to my home island, so I was very surprised that there was one right here in the fire nation. They probably pouched the wolves and sold them on the black market. I became very angry when I saw some of the bandits and thieves poke the wolf with sticks and banging on the cage, yelling. They were torturing the poor thing for their own amusement. The wolf began to growl and nip at the men, but it just seemed to urge them to keep bothering the animal. Now I was angry.

Aang saw me scowling, "What's wrong?"

"They're torturing him." I said nodding at the men bothering the wolf.

Aang became a little angry too as he realized what the men were doing.

Then one of the thieves kicked the animal through the bars, making it yelp. Not being able to hold my anger in any longer, I started towards the small crowd completely furious. I couldn't just stay there and let them hurt the wolf; after all I am a werewolf. I felt someone grab onto my arm, stopping me from going any further. I turned angrily to see who it was that stopped me and I saw Aang shaking his head slowly, "Don't, we can't attract attention to ourselves."

"I can't just stand here and watch them do this." I said, now furious.

"This is just your anger controlling you. Don't do something you might regret."

"Listen, if you don't want them to notice you then stay here and pretend you don't know me ok? But I will help him, it's my job." I said, pulling away from Aang's grip.

As I got close to the group of thieves I yelled, "HEY! Leave him alone! He didn't do anything to you!"

A big burly man with wide shoulders glanced at me, but then turned back to cheer and watch the other men hurt the animal. All of the bandits looked pretty tough; some even looked like those fierce pirates you hear about in stories. I paid no attention to that, sure if I was a normal person I would walk away and pay no mind to the poor cowering wolf. But I'm pretty sure we all know I'm no normal person.

"HEY! I SAID LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I yelled louder, seeing they were ignoring me.

The big man turned to me and said, "Run along little girl, go home and mind your own business."

"This IS my business buddy. And I'm not any little girl." I said grudgingly.

Now I saw that I aggravated the guy and more of his friends behind him turned to see what was going on. Still looking aggravated, yet amused the man said, "Oh and what do you suppose you'll do to stop me. Are you going to yell some more? Hm? Or perhaps you're going to hold your breath till you turn blue?"

His friends were now chuckling at the comments he was making which made me even angrier, (If that's possible.) I narrowed my eyes, "No, what I'll do is hurt you till you cry. Knock out your buddies here and maybe even choke you. I'll have fun seeing how many shades of blue a grown man will turn before he passes out." I said shoving the man.

He stumbled back, obviously surprised at how much force I had. At the corner of my eye I saw that Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko had now finished shopping and were all watching me threaten the man. Katara and Aang looked worried. Zuko was very intrigued and Sokka was smirking at the irony. I thought I even saw Toph snicker a bit.

Turning my attention back at the man I saw he now had his friends all behind him. The big man had crossed his arms, "So _little girl_," I was really getting annoyed at him calling me 'little girl', "it's a fight you want. Fine but let's make this interesting," he added chuckling, "although I don't know how much more interesting this can get, how 'bout a wager?"

Now it was my turn to cross my arms, "Ok, if I win you let the wolf go. And -"

"-and _when_ I win," he said interrupting me, "you'll give me any valuables you got . . . even that necklace you've got there." he finished, pointing at my dog tag.

I gritted my teeth and said, "Fine! But don't expect mercy from me."

Now all the bandits laughed, and the big man motioned one of his friends to come forward. The man he called was rather skinny and didn't look very threatening, but that didn't mean he couldn't hurt me. He got in a fighting stance and I looked at the big man, surprised, "I thought I was going to fight you!" I yelled.

"I never specified that _I _was going to fight." He replied, smiling slyly.

I got in my fighting stance and focused on my enemy. The Big Guy, as I had gotten used to calling him, had three friends including the one I was about to fight. So I figured I had to fight his friends before I got to him.

The man jumped at me throwing a punch, I ducked as he swung a kick at my feet which I jumped over. Right now he was at the offence and I was dodging his attacks while I tried to spot an opening in his advances. This man was small, but fast and I soon had trouble dodging his punches and kicks as they became for frequent and quick. It was at this time that I felt compelled to air bend at the punk, I could send him flying all the way to the moon if I wanted too. But that would mean revealing who I am, and that's the last thing I want to do; especially since that meant putting my friends in danger.

He tried to kick me in the stomach and that's when I saw an opening. He was very sloppy with his kicks, flailing his arms around when he did so. I waited for him to kick me again, and as I expected he did the exact same high kick as before. I grab his foot, stopping him in mid kick and I myself kicked him in the back of the knee and then punch him square in the face as he stumbled back. He fell to the ground with a grunt, I looked over at my friends and I saw Sokka now cheering me on as if he was watching some sort of earth rumble match and Toph was enjoying herself too.

I looked back at my opponent and managed to duck again as he tried to sneak in surprise punch when I wasn't watching. Now I had enough fun and games, I began to advance on him. I jabbed him hard in the stomach to which he replied with a grunt and then I spun around and him right in the head sending him crashing right into a shocked Sokka. I flinched when Sokka fell to the ground.

"Sorry!" I yelled to him, still on the ground he put his thumb up as an 'ok'.

The Big Guy and his friends were staring at me in surprise, but quickly they shook it off and The Big Guy sent his next guy out.

This one was a little bigger than the last, although he still looked rather weak. He ran at me holding his hand in a karate chop move and yelling like a mad man. I could tell this was his first fight. I stepped aside and took him by the arm as he ran by and swung him around. His feet were off the ground and I threw him right into a rundown shack which collapsed on him.

Now this left The Big Guy's last goon. Now this guy looked more experienced for he had big muscles and a scar over his left cheek. He got in a boxing stance and he attacked. He punched me a few times in the rib cage making me struggle for breath, but I pressed on. Soon I found his weakness; he protected his sides a lot more than his center area. He sent a double punch my way, but tricked me and at the last minute he changed the double punch into a straight inward punch to my rib cage. When he made contact I heard a sickening crunch and I fell to my knee clutching my side. I saw Sokka, Toph and Zuko cringe. Katara stood there with her hand over her mouth and Aang looked almost as angry as me.

NOW I was pissed. In a fit of rage I lunged at the man punch him in the face then the stomach and then the groin. As he leaned over in pain, I grabbed his neck and choke slammed him into the dirt with such force that he left a human imprint in the ground.

Still holding my side I looked sharply at The Big Guy, who flinched when I did so. And as they say if looks could kill, he'd be dead right now. I slowly made my way toward him and he took a few steps back in fear. For a big man he looked pretty scared.

"Now I finished your friends, and unless you want to deal with this _little girl_ then open that cage RIGHT NOW!" I said, pointing at him threateningly.

The Big Guy quickly took the keys out of his pocket and tried to open the lock, all the while fumbling with the keys. Suddenly he stopped turning the key and spun around punching me in the rib cage again. My eyes shot open in pain and anger. My friends ran up to me in defense.

I felt myself morph a bit as I breathed heavily. I snapped my head at The Big Guy, who now seemed to regret ever laying a hand on me. He looked terrified as my eyes changed from the dark brown color they were to a deep gold color and a felt a lot of energy churning inside me. I began to growl at him and everyone looked surprised, "You shouldn't have done that." I said shaking my head. But before I could do anything the man ran away, crying about his mommy.

And as quick as I had that burst of energy, it was gone. I fell back, before I hit the ground Aang caught me. He slowly lowered me to the ground and Katara checked my ribs my pressing at my sides. I grunted in pain when she felt the now swollen area. "You have two broken ribs." She said as Aang helped me stand.

"Fan-tastic." I muttered.

"What is that thing?" asked Sokka pointing at the wolf in the cage.

"That my friend, is a wolf." I replied, turning the key that had been left in the lock and opening the door.

I kneeled down and coaxed the wolf out of the cage. He slowly walked out, but still looked at us hesitantly. I offered him my hand and he sniffed it.

"It's ok boy, we're friends." I reassured him.

"Um guys, I think we should get out of here before anyone else picks a fight." said Zuko.

I agreed because now when I looked around I saw other people giving us dirty looks. And me being injured, angry, and irritated, well . . . let's just say we should get out fast.

We made our way back to Appa with the wolf following close behind. Aang was helping me walk since I was limping in pain. Usually I didn't like people making me feel like I was something fragile, but I think I'd let it go_ just_ this once. The wolf took a liking to Sokka because he was staying closer to him than anyone else. But that's probably because he smells like meat.

Anyway, we made our way through the forest and as we walked we decided that we'd rest before taking off on Appa again. I just hoped that my broken ribs wouldn't affect my change during the full moon, because if that's the case then I'm in for a world of hurt.

* * *

**What was I thining when I made this chapter long? Eh, probably the cactus juice Sokka gave me. Soooo, Pwease review cause like I said before review motivate me. Yup, I'm gonna go ice my fingers now, bye bye. (Next Chapter will be up soon.) :P**


	5. Chapter 5: The Dream

**Finally! I finished this chapter. I was being very lazy lately but I suddenly got the inspiration I needed to write this chapter. So yeah, here I tried to add some character interaction and developement. And we see Kyra actually open up and show her true self (If you could call it that) for a split second. AND we get a new character!**

**Enough of my yacking on with the story!**

**Disclamer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, I think that's kinda obvious. XP**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Dream **

We all sat down on the ground next to Appa. Momo flew over to the wolf, examining this strange new animal. I was scrunched over, clutching my side. Katara couldn't heal me fully because the wound was too severe, but just the cool touch of the water helped ease atleast some of the pain. Katara bended the water back in her pouch and sat down next to Sokka.

"Thanks." I managed to say through the pain.

Whenever I breathed it sent a new wave of pain through my body, so talking didn't really agree with me right now. I looked over at the wolf, which was now walking towards me. It sat down next to me as I scratched its head. Concerned, Katara faced Aang and said, "What exactly happened back there?"

Aang explained everything that occurred leading to the fight I had. When he finished Toph piped up, "Those were some smart wise cracks you used Princess. Wonder why I never thought of them."

I laughed a little, but immediately felt pain at my side. Toph was considered the best at insulting her opponent so that she could have the upper hand. I was happy she actually gave me a compliment, though it's very rare for her to do so. But I wasn't too happy about the new nickname she gave me. She calls me Princess because my father was the chief of my tribe. I guess I sort of was like a Princess; I sure didn't act like one though.

"Is that what happens, when you lose control?" asked Zuko.

I sighed, "Yeah, but it's a lot more than just my eyes changing color. It's much more . . . gruesome. That man was lucky he didn't get me even angrier."

Sokka pulled out a piece of meat and began chewing on it.

"What are we gonna do with that thing?" asked Sokka waving the meat at the direction of the wolf.

I looked at the wolf. He seemed to squirm in place staring at the meat in Sokka's hand. I couldn't just leave the animal here. In his condition, he wouldn't be able to survive in the wild. He could get captured by those thieves again. I thought of keeping him and have him travel with us, but my friends would never agree to that. _Or so I thought._

As if reading my mind, Aang smiled a big grin at the wolf and then me, "I think we should keep him." He exclaimed happily.

The wolf suddenly tackled Aang to the ground, licking his face, thanking him. Aang laughed while trying to hide his face from the sticky wet tongue.

"Down boy! Down!" said Aang between laughs, as he nudged the wolf off of him.

Everyone began to laugh. Even Zuko seemed to smile a little. Katara agreed in keeping the wolf, so did Zuko and Toph. Sokka seemed a little reluctant though.

"But we already have two fluffy animals. Do we really need another?" said Sokka chewing on the meat again, "Besides, the added wait will slow us down."

I grabbed the face of the wolf and aimed it at Sokka, "Aww, come on Sokka. Can you really resist this cute face?" I said, as the wolf seemed to understand what I was doing and gave him the most big-eyed-puppy-dog-face ever witnessed.

Sokka wined and tried to hide his face from the onslaught of cuteness, "Oh, fine!" he said, and then added, "But keep it as far away from me as possible. I don't want my personal boundaries invaded; I already had that incident with Momo." Momo looked up at the mention of his name.

Aang and I both yelled, "Yes!" in triumph. The wolf seemed overjoyed as well because he kept running around licking everyone. But when he finally got to Sokka, instead of licking him, he went and grabbed the left over piece of meat in his hand and ran over to hide behind me.

Sokka was left there with his jaw dropped and his hand in a position about to put the (now missing) meat into his mouth. Outraged he yelled, "Hey!"

Everyone laughed again as Sokka grumbled to himself, taking out another piece of meat. I slowly turned around to the wolf and pet him, "What are we going to name him?"

Nobody seemed to have the slightest idea of what to name him. Toph then lifted her head, "How 'bout we name him Shadow?"

Zuko looked at Toph and asked, "Why Shadow?"

"Because I think it sounds cool." Toph simply said.

"That's a great name." I said, "And it fits him too. He's sneaky, and his fur is black and white, I suppose in a way he resembles a shadow."

"I like it." said Aang, grinning.

"Me too, the name Shadow makes him mysterious." Katara said, petting Shadow as he lay down beside her.

"Whatever just keep that thing away from me, and my beautiful meats!" mumbled Sokka with his mouth full, hugging the bag of meat.

Katara rolled her eyes and Toph grabbed the bag yelling, "Save some for the rest of us!"

Shadow barked, agreeing with Toph. I chuckled a little, but then stopped when the pain in my side grew more intense. I grimaced, holding my side tighter.

Aang saw me, now worried, "What's wrong?"

"I . . . don't know. My ribs . . . I feel . . . it's, aah!" I struggled to talk as now the pain became more severe.

"Katara can you heal her?" said Aang, panicking a little.

He was now kneeling next to me, unsure of what to do. Katara rushed to my side with the water now glowing on her hand. I lay down on the ground. She pressed the water to my side as I shook and sweat from the intensity of the pain. I looked over at Toph who had her two hands pressed to the ground, probably feeling my vibrations and trying to 'see' what was wrong. Both Sokka and Zuko sat there completely unsure as to what was happening. Shadow was now lying next to me whimpering.

After a few agonizing minutes Katara retracted the water back to her pouch and said, "I don't know what's wrong. I feel a lot of energy there, but it seems like I don't need to heal it."

Now I was completely confused, "What do you mean you don't need to heal it?" I yelled out of pain.

"She's right," Toph said, "I feel the rib bones rearranging in your body. Like . . . like its repairing itself."

Everyone, except Toph who had a serious look on her face, was bewildered. They didn't know what to think of this._ I_ didn't know what to think of this. Sure werewolves can heal very quickly, but not severe wounds such as broken bones! This had never happened to a guardian before. At least, the wise men in my village never spoke of anything like this happening to a guardian.

"Aaagh!" I yelled, now in excruciating pain. Aang flinched and Sokka, Katara, and Zuko looked at me with sympathy.

"We've got to wrap her up and keep her warm until the pain subsides." said Katara, getting up to go get blankets and a sleeping bag.

Once Katara had me wrapped up and comfortable, she headed out to gather fire wood with Sokka. Zuko was setting up the tents and Toph . . . well she was sitting against a tree, napping. Aang was sitting next to me with Shadow keeping me company. I looked at him, he seemed sad and worried. I had no clue he'd be so worried about me. I was glad to have such a good friend; he was worried about me and kept me company even though he hadn't known me very long. I was definitely a lucky person.

I felt sleep taking hold. The pain took a toll on me and the fact that the moon was full probably didn't help either. I could feel the moon stressing my body out probably urging it further to "heal" quicker in order to turn.

Aang caught me staring at him and he glanced at me, blushing, "What?" he asked, trying to hide his blush.

"Nothing," I said, "I'm just happy to have such a great friend."

"Oh, um . . . don't mention it." he stared at his feet, blushing even more.

_What's with him and blushing?_ I thought, smiling a little.

Then I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. I listened to the sounds of the forest. It was like a sweet, calm lullaby easing my tension. Relaxing, I let the quiet sounds of nature envelope me. I finally fell into a deep soundless sleep, which I didn't have in a long time.

_I woke up floating in the air with clouds swirling all around me. Suddenly I fell and ended up in this swamp-like area. I didn't feel any pain when I hit the ground so I figured I was dreaming. Then a tall man with white hair and beard appeared before me. He wore a royal fire nation robe, and on his head he wore what looked like a hair piece which only a crowned prince would wear. When I looked at the man, I felt like I knew his name but I couldn't remember. His face looked worn, like its seen many years of hardships; and his eyes were a deep brown color that seemed to hold much wisdom. A small grin formed on his lips._

_"I see you've made some new friends, Kyra. And one of them is the Avatar." He said._

_"Y-yeah, who are you? And how do you know my name?" I asked, a little creeped out._

_"You'll find out who I am in due time. But that is not important right now." He said, growing serious, "I came to your dream to tell you something very important."_

_Now I was beginning to get scared, "To tell me what?"_

_"You need to return to your homeland to speak with your mentor, Lupis."_

_"Lupis? But he's . . . gone, I can't talk to him." I said, confused, "But even if I could, why do I need to talk to him?"_

_Patiently, he said, "You need to speak with him and find out what you really are. Kyra, you are not an average person."_

_I was getting annoyed now at his subtlety, "Yeah, thanks I think I already got that."_

_He chuckled, and his voice softened a little, "No, what I mean is you are not like the many other Guardians that preceded you. You are more powerful, and you have an important role in this life."_

_"What?"_

_"I've already said too much. You must go to your homeland and enter the secret chambers. To enter though, you need to show your true self."_

_The man began to fade. And I could barely hear his voice as he became more transparent, "I need to go now, but before I leave. I must warn you. One day you'll have to make a decision. One day you'll make a decision that will either change your life or change the world. And this decision will define who you are, but not by your name or your ancestry but your real inner being. This doesn't really rely on a choice, but the path you choose to take." _

_And then he disappeared._

_My eyes widened and I franticly searched for him. I needed more answers; I was confused and had absolutely no idea what he was talking about._

_"W-wait! I don't know what you mean! Who are you?" I said, running around looking for him._

I woke up in a cold sweat, breathing harshly. Propping myself up on my elbows I quickly scanned my surroundings. Sokka was in a sleeping bag snoring away next to the fire with Shadow right by his side. Appa was asleep as well with Momo on his head. Zuko was sitting on a stump in front of the fire and Katara was eating what looked like rice. I suspected Toph was inside her rock tent, most likely sleeping too. And Aang was still next to me sitting against a tree, and nudging his rice around in his bowl.

I put my hand against my forehead and mumbled, "What's wrong with me?"

Aang noticed I was awake and he immediately lit up, flashing (what I soon learned was) his trade mark grin. He set his bowl down on the ground and yelled out to everyone else, "She's awake!"

"Ugh," I groaned holding my head tighter, "Quietly please. I have a headache."

"Oh, sorry!" he whispered, smiling.

I got up to sit down on the ground next to the fire. Staring at the fire I thought about my dream. _Did I really have to go back to my homeland? Should I take what this man said seriously? Is my mentor still alive? Or was it really just a dream? And, for spririt's sake what is that decision the man was talking about? _These questions and more were swirling around in my head as I struggled to make sense of what I had dreamed. I kept staring into the fire until I noticed that Sokka was now awake and everyone was staring at me curiously.

A little taken a back I said joking, "What? What's wrong, did my tail grow out already?"

"Are you feeling ok?" asked Katara.

"Yes, actually. My sides don't hurt anymore; I think they're healed." I replied, rubbing my side and trying to avoid the conversation that I somehow knew was soon to come.

I hoped that's all they wanted to know, but it seemed as though they were holding back the real question.

"Ok, what's really going on here? You guys are looking at me like I suddenly burst into flames."

"You were talking in your sleep." answered Sokka.

"You were saying some things-"

Interrupting me, Toph appeared out of nowhere behind me, making me jump, "What they are trying to say is you where yelling something like, 'Wait! Who are you! What do you mean!' and that kind of stuff."

"Oh" I said, "I had this weird dream, about this man with a white beard in fire nation robes with a hair piece on his head. He said some things, and then I woke up. Nothing interesting really."

"Kyra? Did this man seem familiar to you?" Aang asked like he already knew the answer.

"I guess, but I can't remember." I replied, not really wanting to continue this conversation any further.

"What exactly did he tell you?" he urged.

I told him what he said in my dream, carefully leaving out the part where the man told me that I had to make some kind of important decision. I guess I confirmed whatever Aang thought, because now he was nodding his head slowly.

"You know who this man is. Don't you." I said, stating more than asking.

"Yes, this man that appeared in your dream was Roku the Avatar before me."

Realization hit me like a brick wall. I studied about the past Avatars in my homeland and I knew that Avatar Roku wouldn't appear in my dream if it wasn't important. I mentally slapped myself for not realizing this sooner.

I stood up and said, "I have to go back to my homeland. You guys go on ahead to Ember Island."

Aang tried to object but I stopped him, "You've already used up enough time as it is. My island is miles out at sea. Far from Ember Island, it would take nearly a week at best to get back there."

Toph came up from behind startling me (again!) and nudged me a little, "We're coming with you Princess and there's nothing you can say otherwise."

"On Appa it would take three days to get to your island." stated Aang.

"Besides, we still have months till Sozin's Comet." added Katara.

Zuko lay back against a tree and said, "It'd be nice to take a 'little' break."

Sokka jumped up and yelled, "Yay, another mini vacation!"

Shadow barked in excitement, scaring Sokka. Appa groaned at all the ruckus and Momo chattered away. I smiled, happy but still preoccupied thinking about what Roku said about my decision and my father.

* * *

Even though it was still dark out we all began packing because we decided that the faster we start flying, the faster we'll get there. I was really beginning to zone out lately thinking about the many things that had occurred in such little time that I didn't realize Aang and I reached for the same rolled up sleeping bag and lightly bumped our heads.

"Oh, s-sorry." I said straightening myself and blushing alittle.

"Its ok." he quickly replied, equally embarrassed.

Instead I reached to pick up the supply bag next to the sleeping bag, and Aang reached for the same thing as well; our hands briefly touched making him blush. Quickly, I grabbed the sleeping bag and made my way to Appa saying, "I-I'll take this."

Now both of us were blushing. _What is with this blushing thing? Ugh, I hate this feeling!_ I thought. I put the sleeping bag in the saddle on Appa. Toph appeared next to me, "What was that?"

I jumped ten feet in the air. _And what's with her appearing out of thin air?_

I was sure she was referring to the little blushing fest earlier, since she could sense our heart beats.

"Nothing." I choked out.

"I can tell you're lying." she sang, grinning.

"Oh, shut up!" I said, getting on Appa with everyone else.

Toph sat next to me and I sighed in frustration, "Whatever you say Princess." She said as Aang gave Appa the command to fly.

"Enough with that nickname!" I yelled; _she's worse than Ulric!_

Katara giggled, Sokka rolled his eyes, and Zuko and Aang had absolutely no idea what was going on. _Thank the spirits._

I rested my head on the edge of the saddle and watched the clouds float by. Momo flew onto my lap and Shadow curled up next to me snoring loudly. Everyone else was asleep, except for Aang. But he looked like he was about doze off any second.

I sighed and thought about what Lupis might tell me, if I could even talk to him. Most importantly, I thought about what Roku had already told me. I wondered, what exactly is so special about me that I'm different from any other guardian before me. And why hadn't I changed during the full moon that night I had the dream? Maybe it's because I hadn't realized what I really am? I don't know. I just hope it's not anything worse than what I already am.

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**I hope you liked it cause, I really try to improve my writing with every chapter as I go. I hope you like Shadow, cause I'm planning on him and Sokka to have a few conflicts here and there. But I guess you can already tell that they don't get along very well in this chapter. And I love to experiment with Kyra's frustration with Toph, XD. Toph is like my second favorite character because of here personality and because she's so painfully blunt sometimes. **

**Anyway, please review and tell me what you think. I'll start making plans for the next chapter, (I have no idea how to put it together though.) Eeh, I'll work something out. **

**I value your reviews! They motivate me to write more in each chapter! :P**


	6. Chapter 6: What You Really Are

**Well, I FINALLY finished this chapter. Sorry it took so long to update. The chapter was only supposed to be a little over 3,000 words long not over 8,000. XD I think this is the longest chapter yet. In this chapter there's more character development, Kyra goes through a tough time and she finally find out what she really is. And there's more humor here than usual. I guess you'll have to read and find out. Enjoy! XP**

**Disclamer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, If I did I'd get someone else to direct the movie. :-)**

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**Chapter 6: Discovering Who You Are**

For the past three days it's been nothing but flying. At least all of us had a chance to talk and get to know each other a little better. But Sokka really didn't want to know Shadow any more than he already had. Throughout the whole ride to, my homeland, Amak they have been fighting. Shadow kept stealing Sokka's food right from under his nose, and Sokka has been calling Shadow names (which he didn't like too much.) While Sokka was asleep, Shadow knocked him off Appa trying to make more room to sleep for himself. Aang had to make Appa dive down underneath Sokka to save him from hitting the water and being flattened like a pancake. From then on Sokka has been complaining about Shadow but, since wise wolf had become a great companion to Toph she made Sokka shut up rather quickly.

Other than the quarreling triangle, the trip went smoothly. Katara and I had talked a lot; I told her about that decision Roku told me about. We still hadn't figured out what he meant. Either way I was happy that I was finally able to talk about this with someone. But to tell the truth I didn't focus much on my "decision" problem but instead I tried to help Aang with his dilemma.

In order to stop the war he had to defeat the Fire Lord which is a challenge in itself. But he also would have to kill the Fire Lord and he didn't want to do that, since when he was very young he's been taught that all life is sacred. He told me he wanted to find a way to defeat the Fire Lord without killing him. Can't say I could relate to his problem, but I talked to him any way and tried to make him feel better by letting him know that I'll always listen whenever he has something to get off his conscience.

Aang had been a lot happier since we talked, and I felt good that I helped him a little but I wasn't too overjoyed to be back at my home as any other person would be.

We landed at the beach at my island and everybody got off to unwind their cramped muscles. Momo went flying off deeper in the island exploring and I guessed he wouldn't be back in a while.

I turned around to see Toph do a body slam off of Appa, sending sand flying everywhere. I shielded my eyes as the sand settled.

Toph began doing sand angles, swinging her arms and legs from side to side, "Sweet, sweet land!" she yelled.

At the same time Sokka was trying to get off of Appa's saddle, but he slipped and made a face plant to the sand. Toph was laughing her butt off along with Aang and I, but Katara was shaking her head smiling at the clumsy Sokka. Zuko scouted ahead with Shadow to check if any fire benders (other than him of course) were around.

Katara stared at her surroundings in awe, "This place is beautiful."

"Yeah, I guess." I replied nonchalantly.

Sokka sat up in the sand and turned to me, "What are we going to eat? We ran out of food on the way here."

I thought about this, "There's plenty of game on this island to hunt and there's fruit everywhere if you look hard enough."

"Ok, well then where's the fruit?" asked Sokka, realizing that he was hungry and he didn't have the energy to go hunting. Even so, I didn't think he would go hunting in a foreign land where he knew nothing of his prey.

"There's some right above your head, actually." I replied, pointing at a coconut tree that happened to be right next to Sokka.

Aang walked up behind me and stared up at the tree, "I don't see any. Are they those round, brown, fuzzy things?" he said, squinting at the tree.

"Yup" I said, air bending myself up to the coconuts and plucking four as I held onto the tree.

Unfortunately while I was trying to get a good grip on one of the coconuts I accidentally dropped one and it landed right on Sokka's head.

"OW! Hey, watch it up there!" he yelled, shaking his fist at me.

"Sorry!" I said, laughing so hard my stomach started hurting.

I clutched my stomach and tried to calm myself down. Aang and Toph were laughing even harder now than before. I suddenly lost my balance and went tumbling down with the coconuts. I landed on my back with an "Oof."

When I opened my eyes I saw the coconuts falling down at me; I yelped as I dodged the first coconut by rolling to my right. I caught the second coconut before it hit my head, but was too late to catch the third and it fell right on my stomach. Instinctively I held onto my stomach and let go of the coconut that I held over my head. Needless to say, the coconut I let go of hit my head as well.

Holding my stomach and forehead I struggled to avoid yelling every curse word I knew. I turned to the now laughing Sokka, wheezing, "You. Are. A curse." I managed to say between breaths.

I got on my knees and looked at the laughing trio of Toph, Aang and Katara, "And what are you three laughing at?" I questioned, now recovering.

Getting up I handed one coconut to Sokka, Katara and Aang who looked at it quizzically.

"These are called coconuts." I explained, slightly holding my stomach.

"They're called what?" said Toph, who materialized next to me and scared me half out of my wits.

"You really need to stop doing that." I said, pointing at her accusingly as she shrugged.

Katara turned to me, shaking the coconut, "Sounds like there's some kind of liquid inside."

"That's the coconut juice. It's very sweet if the coconuts are ripe. These look like they're ripe enough." I said looking the coconuts over.

"Well how do we open them?" mumbled Sokka, as he tried to crack it open with his teeth.

"The shell is hard like a rock so we need to use a rock to crack it open." I told Sokka, "And if you keep trying to open it with your teeth, you might crack a tooth."

I looked around for a rock. Finding one that looked really sharp I check the tip of the rock to see if it wasn't dull, "Perfect." I said as I positioned the coconut on a boulder. As fast as lightening I slammed the pointed end of the rock on the coconut cutting it clean through. Holding the two halves I handed one to Sokka and Toph. Then I did the same with Katara's coconut, handing one half to Aang and Katara.

"There you go. Now you can drink the juice and eat the insides." I said happily.

They hesitated a little, but then drank the juice.

"This is tasty!" Sokka exclaimed, licking the insides of the coconut.

"I never had this fruit before. It's really good!" said, Aang.

Katara nodded, "I've never seen it in any market either."

"That's because it can only be found on this island." I explained.

I cut another coconut as Zuko walked out of the forest with Shadow close behind, "No sign of any other fire benders. We should be safe here."

I handed him half a coconut and he raised an eyebrow staring at it.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Just drink it."

He followed suit and drank from the coconut. As soon as we all finished eating and drinking I led the way to my destroyed village. Toph could have told us exactly which direction it was by sensing vibrations, but since there were lots of animals, bugs, and other type of life wandering around it made it harder for her to distinguish a thick tree from a building.

About an hour passed and we were still navigating through the thick brush of the forest to my village. I was dreading seeing the sight of my burnt down village again. I didn't want all those memories to come flooding back, especially not now when I have so much more to be concerned about.

While I was lost in my brooding, staring at the ground as I walked, I didn't realize that I was walking straight for a low branch until I heard Zuko yell, "Look out!"

_Too late._ I smacked my forehead right into the branch and fell down on my butt, "Ouch." I said rubbing my forehead. Of course Toph was laughing and I heard Sokka snickering in the back. Katara and Aang were desperately trying to hold back their laughter. Zuko looked away trying and failing to hide his smile.

I got up, "Ha ha, very funny." I said, sarcasm clearly present in my voice.

As I walked, I rubbed my forehead again, "Man, that hurt. Traveling with you guys is putting me in a world of pain."

This remark earned another fit of laughter from Toph and snickering from the rest. I sighed in frustration, but kept on walking. Now I know how Sokka feels.

After a few more minutes of walking Shadow suddenly began to bark happily and ran ahead of us. Afraid he might get too far I ran after him yelling, "Shadow, heal!"

Everyone else ran after me, yelling for me to wait. I followed Shadow through some tall bushes and ran into a small clearing. I realized the small field was where Ulric and I used to play sports; it was also the main entrance to our village. Saddened, I lowered my eyes from the once beautiful white, wooden arch that was the gateway to the commons of the village.

Walking up to it I traced the decorative carvings of the demolished arch, or at least what was left of the carvings. The rest of the group had now caught up with me. I looked at my friends, Katara gasped at the sight of the destroyed arch, Sokka looked flustered, Zuko was staring sadly at me and Aang was almost as upset as I was. Toph just stood there quietly, thought I was sure she could now 'see' the destroyed arch.

"This used to be the entrance to our village." I said solemnly, "Every time a member of the village would turn thirteen he or she would carve their own design into the arch on the day of their birthday."

I searched the arch for my own design. Finally I found my half burnt carving of the air nomad symbol with some wind designs around it. The design was position at the right side of the arch curve. I lay my hand on the symbol and said, "This was the one I carved on my birthday a week before my village was invaded."

Katara put her hand on my shoulder and gave me an apologetic smile. I forced a smile, "Let's keep going."

As we walked further into the village I saw the after math of the attack revealed before me. When I found the village burnt down on the day of the invasion I didn't really take a good look at the damage, I was too heartbroken to even notice once I saw my father dead on the battle field. But now I could see what the fire nation really did. The sacred building where I used to meditate had collapsed; the walls of the homes were turned to ashes. The fire benders left nothing untouched.

When I surveyed the ground I saw the some of the skeletons of my people buried in the dirt, forgotten. I stared at a huge mass of ash and debris in the middle of the commons, "This . . . this was where our first tree was planted in our village." I said, picking up some of the ashes of the tree in my hand and staring at it in disbelief. "It symbolized the day this whole village was constructed, the day the first guardian appeared." The ashes were blown from my hand, carried away by the wind.

I stood angrily, "It was thousands of years old, and now it's gone." I said through clenched teeth.

Everybody was dead silent. I heard someone walk up behind me. At first I thought it was Katara. Two pair of hands put on my shoulders made me turn around; and I was forced to stare into Aang's stormy grey eyes, which seemed to hold many emotions in them; the emotions I was feeling: hatred, anger, regret, and sorrow.

I struggled to keep myself from breaking down in front of him. I pulled away from his grasp and turned around.

"Kyra . . ." Aang started, but I cut him off.

"We should make camp here for the night; it's getting dark." I closed my eyes and started to walk, "I'll go get the fire wood."

I glanced back to see that everyone began to set up camp. Appa landed in the commons, most likely called by Aang's bison whistle.

As Aang was unloading the camping stuff off of Appa's saddle, he glanced back worriedly at me. I quickly turned away and headed towards where our village stored fire wood.

The fire wood was behind an old butcher shop, so I walked there and picked up any wood that wasn't wet and started back towards camp.

I instantly stopped when I heard loud whining. I put my heightened senses to good use and tried to figure out where the noise was coming from. It was hard to tell where the source of the noise was because it was reverberating off the surrounding building walls. I tried to follow the sound as it got louder and louder until I stopped in front of a small temple. I ran towards the building with the fire wood tucked underneath one arm.

When I entered the temple I saw Shadow standing in front of something with his head low whimpering. Dropping the wood I crouched next to Shadow and pet his head, "There you are! Don't run off like that again." I told him, but he seemed to try and tell me something because he had his ears tucked down and he still had his head low.

"Shadow what are yo-" I stopped when I finally saw what he was looking at. My mentor, Lupis' skeleton was on the floor. Tears threatened to fall as I picked up my mentor's gold medallion. It had a tree carved into it with one white turtle dove on each side of it.

"Did you know him buddy?" I asked Shadow, my voice faltering. He began to whimper louder as if answering my question then he ran out the temple.

I began to cry, sitting against a burnt wall holding the medallion in my cupped hands. _Come on Kyra stop crying, what kind of a guardian are you? What would Lupis say?_ I struggled to stop myself from crying, but I just couldn't. It was at this time that I wished that Ulric was here comforting me like he usually would; _he was always like a brother to me._

As if on cue, Aang entered the temple, "Kyra? Shadow kept whimpering so I followed him here."

Looking at me he realized I was crying, worried he asked, "A- are you ok?"

He sat down next to me; I quickly wiped my tears away and tried to act like I hadn't been crying just earlier, "Yeah. I'm fine, never been better." My voice wavered after I said that so now I knew I was busted.

"You know you can talk to me right?" he said, sitting next to me.

"I'm fine really."

Completely unconvinced, he stared into my eyes and said, "You helped me by talking with me about my problem; now let me help you. Talk to me."

I knew he was right; it's just so hard opening up to someone about my problems it was hard for me to even open up with Ulric whom I've known for eight years. But there was something about Aang that made it easier for me to do so.

I sighed and let the tears run freely down my face. Turning to my mentor's skeleton, I showed him the medallion, "I miss them Aang. I loved them so much. And now they're gone, everything . . . they-I-", my voice failed me as more tears rolled down my face.

I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my forehead on my arms. Aang put his arms around me and hugged me saying, "Your loved ones are never really gone, Kyra. They're here with you in your heart." he seemed to consider what he was about to say next, "And sometimes they're reborn into new love."

Aang's words help make me feel a little better, but I continued to cry, I needed to let this out; I cried not only for my mentor, but my father, my friends, and even my mother. Most of all, I cried for everyone around the world that had suffered because of the fire nation. I had all this pain bottled up inside and I finally let it out. Thanks to Aang I felt a lot better.

"Thank you Aang." I said, now hugging him, "You're the best friend I've ever had."

Aang seemed to relax his muscles while I hugged him, "Don't mention it." he said in a dream-like voice.

I stood up and put the medallion in my pocket, "We should take this wood back to camp and get some rest." I said, wiping my remaining tears away.

Picking up the wood I left out the door, but then went back in the temple when I realized Aang wasn't following. He was still sitting against the wall staring into nothing and smiling. He looked like he was day dreaming.

"Aang?" no answer, "Aang." still no answer, "Aang!" I yelled, again no answer from him.

"Earth to Avatar Aang!" I yelled waving my hand in front of his face.

He shook his head, coming out of his daze, "Huh? What?"

I giggled, "Are you coming to camp? Or would you rather sleep here?"

"Oh! I'm coming!" he said excitedly.

I shook my head and smiled as we made our way back to camp.

While we were sitting around the campfire we all ate some coconuts and a few mangos that I found. Sokka apparently, didn't like the all fruit menu but he had to choose between eating the fruit and going to bed hungry. He picked the fruit; he mostly ate the coconuts though. I think he really is starting to like those. Shadow had already fallen asleep.

I told them that I thought I had a pretty good idea on where the secret chambers are, which is on the other side of the island. And we wouldn't be able to take Appa because there would be no place to land there it's just a thick forest with trees everywhere. It wouldn't take long to get to the other side, anyway, because I knew the island like the back of my hand.

So after, we made our little plans everyone got ready to go to sleep. Sokka was already fast asleep and so was Zuko, which is surprising because I thought he was usually the last to fall asleep. Toph, Katara, Aang and I were still awake. I was eager to get some rest because I had a long day, but there was one little problem though.

"Has anyone seen my sleeping bag?" I asked while looking in Appa's saddle and finding nothing.

"Nope" all three of them said in unison.

"Where was the last time you had it?" asked Katara, helping me look.

"I remember rolling it up and putting it in Appa's saddle, and now I can't find it." I answered, confused as to where it might be.

"Oh well, I guess we'll have to share Appa's tail Kyra. Goodnight!" exclaimed Aang, laying down on the bison's tail turning his back to me.

Something was up. I didn't think my sleeping bag just mysteriously disappeared.

Folding my arms, I stared at Aang accusingly, "Aang, you don't happen to know where my sleeping bag is. Do you?"

He turned back around, "Me? Psh! No, it probably fell off of Appa while we were flying. Goodnight!" he finished, laying back to sleep.

Toph turned to Aang grinning and said, "Or maybe a certain someone threw the sleeping bag off of Appa while we were flying over the sea?"

"Goodnight, TOPH!" yelled, Aang in a warning tone.

"Goodnight, Lover Boy." she retorted, aggravating Aang and making Katara and I laugh.

Toph made her rock tent and went right to sleep. Shadow came out of the woods looking excited as he lay down next to Toph's tent.

I laid down to the right of Aang on Appa's tail and sighed, "Goodnight, everyone."

I stared at the moon a bit before I went to sleep. It was full again, and I still wasn't changing. Do I really need to know what kind of guardian I am before I change? I shook my head trying to get rid of those thoughts. I focused mainly on the stars, now. Momo came flying into camp and landed on my stomach. I smiled and scratched the back of his ears as he purred in approval.

All of a sudden I had this weird feeling someone was watching me; I glanced at Aang and caught him close his eyes right when I looked at him. _Huh, so it wasn't my imagination last time,_ I thought. I slowly closed my eyes, smiling and instantly fell asleep.

The next day, I was so well rested that I woke up earlier than everyone else. While they were still asleep, I gathered some fruit and caught three rabbits plus one squirrel for Sokka, Toph, Zuko and Katara. I thought that I wasn't really doing much to help out with setting up camp and things like that so I decided to cut up the fruit and cook the meat for my friends. This time I wanted to make the food instead of Katara who seemed to be doing all of the harder work. Sokka was usually the one that hunted for meat, and I didn't want him to catch a skunk or something and give himself food poisoning; after all he didn't know anything about this land and its wildlife. Besides I had nothing else to do anyway.

I had the fruit set in individual bowls for everyone. Putting one stick on each side of the fire I placed another stick through the meat and set it on top of the two sticks, which I especially designed to hold the shish kabob meat in place. All I had to do is turn the stick like a crank so that the meat was cooked evenly by the fire. Now I waited for everyone to wake up.

I was beginning to fall asleep until Sokka yelled out, "MEAT!"

I jumped up surprised and glared at Sokka for the rude awakening. He ran up to the fire pit and pointed at the meat, "Did you catch that?"

"Yes, and don't worry Meathead it's almost done. You'll be able to eat in a few minutes." I said, rolling my eyes.

He sat down and watched the meat as it cooked. Shadow was already sitting next to him, moving his head in the same motion as the meat was turning.

Sokka pointed at Shadow and teased, "First come, first served!"

Shadow growled in response and gave Sokka the death glare.

Everybody else woke up a few minutes after. Aang sat up and yawned while stretching his muscles, "What's going on?" he said, rubbing his eye sleepily.

"Kyra made breakfast!" hollered Sokka excitedly. He was beginning to remind me of a hyper little six year old I used to know.

"Finally! Real food." said Toph, emerging from her makeshift rock tent.

Zuko sat up and yawned, "Something smells good."

Katara woke up and sat down next to me staring in disbelief, "You made breakfast? When did you wake up?"

"I woke up at sun rise. I was bored, so I decided to make breakfast because I thought I didn't help out much when I joined you guys." I simply said.

I took the now ready meat from the fire and placed it on a clean big plate I found.

"Dig in." I said, setting the plate down.

Aang sat down to the right of me and I handed him one of the big bowls of fruit, "Thanks" he said smiling his big goofy smile.

"Wow, this is really good!" said Sokka with his mouth full.

"It's delicious! Where did you learn to cook?" Katara asked finishing her meat and reaching for a mango.

I handed the mango to her and said, "I learned on my own with a little help from my mentor." I swallowed a piece of orange and added, "My father wasn't a very good cook. Everything he made either blew up in his face or was too burnt to be edible."

Aang with his cheeks looking plump asked curiously, "How did he make food blow up?"

"He . . . um," now that I thought about it, I didn't know how my dad made his food blow up, "actually, I have no clue how he did it." I replied, confused.

He started to laugh, and I laughed too realizing that my dad was that bad at cooking that he somehow, miraculously, made food blow up in his face. We both chuckled while we continued eating.

Once we finished eating and Sokka stopped chasing Shadow around trying to get his meat back, I gathered all of the bowls and cleaned them. Turning around, I bumped right into Toph who didn't react at all.

"Aah!" I yelled, stumbling back.

"Will you stop doing that? I'm gonna get a heart attack!" I said, frustrated.

Toph shrugged, "You scare too easy Princess. So are we going now or what?"

"Yeah, and by the way, if I ever die of shock I'm gonna haunt you." I replied jokingly.

Everyone laughed and got up following me as we walked to the other side of the island. We walked for a good half hour.

"Where exactly is this secret chamber?" asked Zuko, after a long moment of silence.

"I have a feeling it's hidden somewhere in the Guardian's Temple. It's where guardian's study their element and train. Seems like a good place to look." I said thoughtfully.

At this point, I had no clue how long we've been walking; all I knew was that Shadow was getting on Sokka's nerves. The happy wolf kept pulling at Sokka's shirt and playfully nipping his hand.

"Stop-stop it Shadow. Go! shoo!" Sokka motion him away with his hand. Losing interest Shadow began to walk next to Toph.

We passed between a few trees and entered a tiny valley. Right in front of us was a huge Temple. Katara and Aang looked up at it in awe as we walked to the entrance.

When we neared the doors Aang stared at the temple, "This looks exactly like one of the Air Temples." he said excitedly.

"My people were greatly influenced by Air Nomad architecture. So a lot of our temples and some buildings resemble Air Nomad buildings. That and everyone in my village loved the air nomad's spirit and way of building." I explained, deep in thought.

As we entered the temple I heard a few gasps behind me. I had the same reaction when I first saw the interior of the temple. There were book cases all around, about different nations and their culture, along with training scrolls on water bending, fire bending, earth bending, and air bending. White marble pillars lined the room in a circle, supporting the staircase that wound upwards. The marble began to sparkle as the sun light pooled in from the door way, making the whole place seem like it was made of diamonds instead of marble.

A huge rug lay on the marble floor ranging between the colors of a pale yellow, brown, grey, and a deep orange; right in the middle of the rug was a circle of the symbols of the elements and in the middle of the circle of elements was a symbol of the guardians which looked like a distorted pine tree with dotted lines and a full circle around it.

"Wow." Aang whispered.

"Yeah . . . that's exactly how I reacted." I said, staring at the sparkling marble.

Toph pushed her way between me and Aang and walked into the middle of the room, "I don't get what the big deal is. It's just a temple."

Sokka began walking around the room out stretching his arms, "Toph, this place is AMAZING! Aren't you seeing-?"

Sokka was stopped from finishing his sentence when Toph shot him a frightening glare in his direction.

He automatically shrunk, "Oh . . . right. Sorry."

Zuko began to survey the room and said, "Well, I guess we should start looking."

As we walked around the room looking for anything unusual that would signal a secret room of any kind, Toph stood in place trying to feel the vibrations to 'see' where the room is. Even Shadow began to sniff the ground in search.

"Do you feel anything Toph?" asked Sokka, looking at some of the books on weapon combat.

"Nothing yet."

I stared up the stairway wondering what exactly was at the very top of the temple. I tried to distract my curiosity by knocking on the some of the walls of the enormous room to find any hollow spots. I had trouble concentrating because my eyes kept straying to the stair way. My mentor never let me go there, saying I wasn't fully trained yet and that I needed to achieve enlightenment in accepting who I really am.

_Yep, that was it my curiosity got the best of me._ I was starting up the stair way as I said to the others, "I'm gonna go check upstairs."

They nodded, so I quickly made my way up the stairs. I've gotta say the walk up was a lot longer than I thought it would be. Eventually I found myself in a dimly lit room that held statues of the past Avatars. Faded colors of all four nations decorated the walls. The room looked like one of those sanctuaries other nations had for Avatars that my mentor described; except the only difference was that there were werewolves standing next to some of the Avatars in the cycle. Were those the Guardians that helped the Avatar?

I stared at the werewolves; they weren't like any other Guardian I saw in scrolls and portraits. They were bigger, looked stronger, and more intimidating.

Walking up to one of the statues, I stared in awe. Although they looked intimidating, if you studied their eyes long enough you could somehow see the kindness and love in them despite how terrifying they seemed. I guess they had this aura of determination and goodness. It was hard to describe how they appeared to me, what I mean is my mentor used some kind of word for such people, but I just couldn't think of it.

I was taken out of my revere when I heard five people say "Woah," behind me.

"These are all the past Avatars before me! Hey look and there's Avatar Roku." said Aang as he joined me in the middle of the room looking at the statue of Avatar Roku.

Sokka walked up to one of the werewolves, "What are these things next to some of the Avatars, their animal guides?"

_Things? Is that really what I am, a thing, an animal?_ I didn't want to take Sokka's comment seriously because Toph and Katara have already FULLY explained that he can be an idiot sometimes. It still hurt though.

I turned to Sokka, trying to hide the obvious hurt I felt deep inside, "Um . . . those are Guardians."

Aang and Zuko widen their eyes now realizing what Sokka had just implied. Katara looked disapprovingly at her dimwit of a brother.

Toph wacked Sokka on the back of his head, "Nice going Meathead; you just insulted someone who can throw you all the way to space without breaking a sweat." she said, with slight amusement in her voice.

Sokka seemed to just now grasp what he said and he franticly moved his arms saying, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way, I completely forgot, I-!"

I raised my hand interrupting him and said, "No its ok, no hard feelings."

Sokka relaxed a little after hearing me say that but Katara still seemed to be peeved at him.

When I turned around to look at one of the statues, I noticed a portrait hung on the wall behind it. When I got a closer look I realized it was a painting of my mentor, Lupis. He was standing in front of his special large book case that he only used. Lupis always said that I needed to be more experienced in being a guardian to read those books he kept there; he never let me go near them. In the painting he had a wide grin on his face, and he had his left hand slightly outstretched as if he was presenting the bookcase to someone.

I took the fairly small painting off the wall and took a long look at my beloved mentor. I smiled sadly, silently wishing he were still here.

Aang looked over my shoulder asking, "Is that Lupis? He looks like Monk Gyatso!"

I laughed at this, because Aang had once told me about Monk Gyatso; Aang described how he looked and I had to admit Lupis did look like him, only exception was that Lupis had a beard.

"You'd think they were twins." I said, still chuckling.

I stopped laughing when I noticed there was something behind the book case in the painting. There where dark lines to the right of the bookcase in the shape of a square; it looked like something you could push.

"Hold on. No way!" I said, in disbelief narrowing my eyes at the painting to get a better look.

Quickly taking out the parchment used to paint Lupis on from underneath the frame, I put it in my pocket.

"What? What happened?" Aang asked confused yet seeming excited.

I ran to the stairs, "I know where the Secret Chambers are!" I said, jumping all the way down stairs and landing. I saw Aang jump after me eager to see where the Secret Chambers are.

Looking up, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, and Toph were running down the stairs, "Come on you guys!" I yelled.

"Well sooorry we can't do death defying jumps like you two." yelled Sokka, sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes and ran to the very end of the room to a small area with a shiny wooden floor. The small area consisted of an unlit candle on a small table next to a very comfortable looking rocking chair that Lupis used. So that's why Toph couldn't 'see' where it was; cause of the wood, I thought. Shadow was already there, next to the book case; I guess he knew.

Aang and I waited for the rest to catch up, and when they did they were out of breath.

Leaning on his knees Sokka looked at the small area and said, "What? There's nothing here but one bookcase."

"Looks can be deceiving my friend." I said, as I pushed the bookcase out of the way and pushed the square I saw on the wall.

Automatically a rectangular part of the wall pushed lightly outwards and slid to the left revealing another . . . wall. At the top of the wall there was ancient writing only guardians could read.

"Great, another wall." said Sokka.

Ignoring Sokka's comment I looked at the writing, "Only the Guardian and the Keeper of Peace shall enter." I said.

"Keeper of Peace?" asked Zuko, confused.

"In other words the Avatar." I said glancing at Zuko, "Only Aang and I can enter."

"But how do we open the entrance?" asked Katara.

Under the writing was a circle with the imprint of a Werewolf's paw. I looked at my own hand, "You must show who you truly are." I whispered, curiously.

I put my hand on the paw imprint, and immediately I felt it pulsate. And right before our eyes my hand transformed into a werewolf paw, fitting the print perfectly. I blinked in surprise at what happened; I didn't feel any pain.

Suddenly the wall began to rumble and it slid down opening the chamber as I removed my hand from the wall. A soon as I removed my hand from the print it changed back to normal. My eyes still wide I looked at my friends, and they were just as surprised as I was (except for Toph). Zuko and Sokka were so surprised they kept rubbing their eyes to see if they were hallucinating.

"Why's everyone so quiet? What just happened? Fill me in here!" yelled Toph, who was now waving her hands.

"Her-her hand just transformed-" said Sokka, in disbelief.

"I-into a wolf paw." finished Zuko.

"Cool" she responded, grinning.

Aang looked at me who seemed just as surprised as I was, "Wow, did it hurt?"

I was opening and closing my hand to see if it felt the same, "I didn't feel a thing."

Looking at the entrance I said, "I guess it's time to have a chat with my old mentor. And find out what the heck I really am."

"We'll wait here till you get back." said Katara.

I nodded and said, "Ok, feel free to look at some of the scrolls. You can take some if you'd like."

Looking at an eager wolf of said, "Sorry buddy you're gonna have to wait here." He immediately lowered his head and whimpered.

Walking into the tunnel, I heard Aang say, "Hold on, I'm coming with you."

I smiled and nodded as both of us continued walking deeper into the tunnel. We found ourselves in an enormous room filled with paintings of guardians, avatars and prophesies of events to occur. In the middle of the room was a statue of the first guardian, Rintuk.

"Who's that?" said Aang, staring at the statue.

"That's Rintuk, the very first guardian to ever appear. He also supposedly married one of the Avatars in the past. But it was never confirmed, probably just a rumor." I said, while looking at the paintings.

"Oh." he said, deep in thought.

Walking around the room, I saw many paintings of the same guardians I saw in the Avatar room earlier. What's so special about them that they were made into statues next to the Avatars? Does it have anything to do with me?

A little frustrated I said, "Ok, so I'm here. Now how in the world am I supposed to talk to Lupis?"

Looking away from the statue Aang asked, "Did Avatar Roku tell you how to speak with him?"

"No!" I yelled to absolutely no one, "All he said was to find the chambers, show my true self in order to get in and that I'll have to make a decision between my life and the life of another that will make a difference in this world!" now I was waving my hands in frustration, as Aang stared at me in disbelief, "I mean really, what is with these old people and their subtlety? Is it too hard to tell me what I have to do and save time?"

After I finished my rant I held my head, trying to calm myself down, "I'm sorry Aang. I don't know what got into me."

But in fact I did know. I was angry. I was angry that no one would tell me what the hell I am and I was angry that I have to be a guardian in the first place. _Couldn't I have a normal life and not have to be confused and in pain all the time? NO I have to live with being a monster, I have to live with this undying rage inside me, and I have to live with this guilt!_

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around to once again face the stormy grey eyes of Aang. I just then realized how beautiful his eyes are.

"It's ok. You're going through a lot right now; you deserve to blow off some steam." He said, giving me a small smile.

"What did you mean you have to make a decision between your life and the life of another?" he asked curiously.

Staring at the statue I said, "I don't even know. But I think Lupis might be able to tell me."

Aang suddenly lit up like a candle, "Try to meditate, that's what I usually do when I need to talk to Avatar Roku. Have you meditated before?"

"Yeah, plenty of times."

"Try it." he said, excitedly.

I sat down in the lotus position in front of the statue and brought my fists together. I closed my eyes and only focused on my mentor. As I relaxed, I heard only silence around me.

After what seemed like hours, nothing happened. I decided to stand up and tell Aang nothing happened, but then I realized that Lupis was standing right in front of me. He looked exactly like he had the day before the invasion. He wore an Air Nomad robe and his medallion around his neck. Along with his clear white moustache and beard he wore that welcoming smile he always had when he saw me.

"Hello, Kyra. I've missed you." He said.

My eyes began to water from pure shock and joy, "L-Lupis?"

His smile only grew wider as he nodded. I ran to him and gave him the biggest bear hug I could ever give. A tear escaped my eye as I buried my face into his robe, smiling.

"I presume Avatar Roku sent you to talk to me." He said, as I let go and stepped back.

"Yes, he said that you had to tell me of whom . . . or what I really am."

"Well Kyra, I suppose we'll start with what you already know." He took a deep breath, "You are not what we've led you to believe you are. Of course you are a guardian but not a guardian of this island. You are the guardian of the Avatar."

"WHAT?" I yelled.

He paused for a second before continuing, "I know you've seen the row of statues upstairs. Those guardians you saw next to some of the Avatars where not your ordinary werewolf. The Avatar guardians are called Shadowbane wolves. They're stronger, quicker, smarter, and fiercer than anything else imagined. But they are also kinder, wiser, and braver."

"Woah, Woah, hold on. So you're telling me that I am Aang's guardian?" I said, with confusion.

He nodded, "Shadowbane are only born when the world is at a time of great crisis, when the Avatar needs help. That is why you were born and it is why you must accept who you are in order to do this right."

"Ok then what about that decision Avatar Roku told me about?" I said, angry that I didn't know sooner.

"That is something that you will find out on your own. Every Shadowbane must make the decision you will soon make. When that time comes and you choose, please know this; with the choice you make comes a path, the path of a hero and the path of a coward. The path chosen will be your fate; it will define who you truly are." he finished, with a serious look on his face.

Now I've lost it, "Enough with these riddles Lupis, I'm tired of it! How come I didn't know of this sooner? Why didn't you tell me? I could have trained harder; I could have saved the village, my father, and you!"

With a booming voice Lupis yelled, "There was nothing you could have done, Kyra! Our fate was sealed; do not dwell on the past because this is not your guilt to bear! It is Ulgar's! What you need to do now is help your friends in this fight; help the Avatar . . . help Aang."

I looked away from Lupis fuming with anger, "I didn't ask for this. How am supposed to control this? I don't want to hurt my friends . . . I don't want to hurt Aang. What if I fail? I feel like a prisoner to my own fate."

Lupis sighed and looked at me, but I didn't want to meet his face, "You are not a prisoner of fate; But a prisoner of your own mind."

He began to fade away, "Accept who you are, Kyra; because there is no changing you. There may be people who fear you, who hate you, who want to hurt you, remember; you have people who care about you no matter who or what you are. You have a new family and a new love."

My head shot up at the last thing he said, I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks, "Love? What love?" I said, franticly.

He smiled warmly, "Oh Kyra, don't be so naïve. I could tell you like that boy even before you came to talk to me." I tried to hide my blushing, and he smiled even wider, "Remember that your mother, father, and I will always be watching you. And whenever you're feeling down and lonely look up to the moon because we'll be right there looking back at you; we love you Kyra, goodbye."

I smiled as tears threatened to appear, "I love you Lupis."

He disappeared and I woke up in the Secret Chambers again. Aang was sitting next to me, asleep. I nudged him awake.

"Aang, Aang wake up. How long was I meditating?"

Aang jolted awake and rubbed his eyes as he faced me, "Uh? Oh um, I think it's been a couple hours."

It seemed like my conversation with Lupis only lasted a fraction of that. I guessed time went by quicker in the spirit world.

Aang sat up, yawning, "Did you talk with Lupis? What did he say?"

All of this information was almost too mush to handle all at once, "He said that I'm your Guardian."

I never seen a more confused face in my life after I told Aang everything my mentor said. We walked in silence back to the others. Aang and I had come to a conclusion that he'd help me with training to control my anger and thus controlling the animal in me. I couldn't wait to get started on the training because the sooner I could control this thing the sooner I can figure out what my "fate" is.

We exited the tunnel and the doorway immediately shut behind us and probably won't ever open again. I thought everyone would be there waiting for us and asking about my conversation with my mentor, but the room was empty except for Aang and I.

Aang walked around the room searching for our friends, "Where is everybody?"

"I don't kno-" I forgot what I was going to say when I saw scorch marks on the floor and ceiling that wasn't there before, "Oh, no. Aang come take a look at this."

Aang inspected the scorch marks and a wave of realization washed over him, "They've been kidnapped." he said in horror.

"Let's get to the village, they couldn't have gotten far!" I yelled as I ran out the temple with Aang close behind.

I knew precisely who was behind this. Ulgar had most likely found out where we were and now they've got Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Zuko; plus Shadow is nowhere to be seen and I didn't think he would be captured that easily. With Ulgar being the heartless person he is, him having my friends in a hostage situation means he has control over me. And if there's anything Ulgar likes more than than causing pain is having control over somebody.

I grew angrier as I thought about this. I didn't care what he did to me, "I swear if he's done anything to them, I'll show Ulgar how much pain I can really cause. He'll wish he'd never messed with my family." I said, as Aang stared at me, happy that I considered them as my family but also worried for his friends' well being.

_I just hope that I won't fail them._

* * *

**Well, there it is. As always I'll start planning for the next chapter because I'm guessing it'll be over 4,000 words. There's probbably a few mistakes in this chap but eeh nothing's perfect. oh, and another thing. The quote that Master Lupis uses is a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt. In full it's: "Men are not prisoners of fate, but prisoners of their own minds." I only shortened it to fit the conversation Kyra had with Lupis. I think I did well with Kyra's and Lupis's convo. :)**

**So please tell me what you think. You like it, dislike it. TELL ME! Pweeese? ^-^ Review!**


	7. Chapter 7: Captured

**Here's Chapter 7! I started this chap early so that I wouldn't take long to update, but I got into it and didn't stop writing until i finished the chapter. Woops! I tried very hard to write as much detail as I could in this chapter and I hope that it's good. In this chapter an event happens to Kyra that changes how she see's herself and not in a good way. well not really changes but OH you'll see in the story! Please Enjoy!**

** And one other thing, I'm sorry but I COMPLETELY forgot about Suki in this story. No worries, she'll appear later in the story, promise! :) I also wanted to point out that I'll be switching some events that happen near the end of season 3 to suite this story. There won't be any major changes, so no worry ^-^ Ugh I'm tired enough typing!**

** Disclamer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender *sobs* :'(**

* * *

Aang and I used our air bending to run faster and soon enough we were at the village. But it was completely deserted. Appa, Momo, and even Shadow weren't there. And we couldn't see our friends anywhere. I began panicking, thinking they'd already taken them until I saw four figures on the ground. It was them! But their hands and feet were tied leaving them unable to move.

When they noticed us Katara cried out, "Aang, Kyra! Don't it's a trap!"

Aang none the less went to try and untie them as I stood in place realizing that this indeed was a trap. Suddenly fire nation soldiers jumped out of the trees, surrounding us. They had their fists pointed at us, ready to strike with fire if necessary.

As I expected, Ulgar walked out from the group of fire benders grinning proudly with his hands behind his back. They were trying to lure us in, using our friends as bait. And it worked.

Aang and I instantly got in our fighting stances, eyeing the soldiers angrily. Ulgar motioned some soldiers to tie Aang up, but he stepped forward ready to strike.

Ulgar shook his head, "If I were you I wouldn't struggle, we don't want your friends to get hurt now do we?" he threatened forming a fire ball in his hand as a warning.

Aang lowered his arms and the soldiers forced him to the ground, tying him. I glared at Ulgar, not moving an inch.

"So here we are again. I told you next time I wouldn't be so nice." He chided.

"Let them go. Or else . . ." I threatened.

He stepped closer, "Now I don't think you'd try anything. Knowing that I have your old pal Ulric, would you?"

One of the soldiers led a bound and gagged Ulric to my group of friends. Ulric struggled to get free when he saw me, but one of the soldiers kicked him sharply at his side making him crumple to the ground.

I lowered my hands slightly as I stared at my lifelong friend worriedly, "No . . ." I whispered.

"Yes! And I'm prepared to kill him if need be." He said, in a happy yet dark tone.

I snapped my head at his direction, bearing my teeth and breathing harshly, "You wouldn't."

He flashed a crooked smile, "I would. But I'll reconsider if you'd show me your true form, so that my friend may dub you worthy to be the fire nation's 'secret weapon'. "

"Then you'll let my friends go?" I questioned.

"Yes, except the Avatar of course."

"Then no. Besides, I don't have control over it yet." I said.

He looked at me with false pity, "Hm, well that's too bad. I guess I have no choice but to take it out on the Avatar and his friends."

Some soldiers began to kick Aang in the ribs and punch him while he was down. Unable to defend himself Aang could only grunt in pain as they continued the beatings. Other soldiers started after Ulric and Sokka, they began to beat them as well. Katara cried for her brother.

Infuriated, I yelled to Ulgar, "ENOUGH! Make them stop! I don't care what you do to me, but don't hurt them!"

Ulgar raised his hand up to the soldiers making them stop the beatings, "Very well then. Let's see if I can coax that animal in you to surface."

Two soldiers came from behind me and held my arms, pushing me to my knees. Then a girl who looked to be about 14 appeared from behind Ulgar. She wore fire nation armor, and had her hair tied up in a small bun; leaving one strand of hair hanging on each side of her head. She had an evil smile plastered on her face to match her piercing gold eyes that seemed to see everything. Although as calm and collected as she looked, I could tell there was something off about her. I glanced at my friends who gasped when they saw her. I suppose they encountered her before, which wasn't a good sign for me.

She bent down and inspected me, "This is the peasant who's been causing you trouble? Really, Ulgar I thought you were better than that, this is just a worthless piece of trash. How can she be valuable to the fire nation?" she huffed, as she straightened herself.

"I guess you haven't seen her in action, Azula." said Zuko, looking at the girl.

So Azula's her name.

A soldier hit Zuko in the head, making him grunt and lean forward. Azula's grin grew wider, "So Zuzu, you've finally been captured. Good, I can't wait to see what punishment father will put upon you."

Ulgar cleared his throat to get Azula's attention. She glared at him yelling, "What?"

He flinched and waved his hand at me, saying "Will you do the honors?"

Now Azula was staring at me with hunger in her eyes, a hunger to cause pain, "It'll be my pleasure."

While Azula walked behind me, I saw in the corner of my eye that my friends were moving around, wriggling. As Aang looked me in the eye, I finally caught on that they had untied themselves with the help of Momo and Shadow (who were hiding in the bushes now) and were just waiting for the right moment to strike. I silently mouthed, "Not yet" to him. He slowly nodded.

I turned my attention to Azula who had formed a fire whip in her right hand. It suddenly dawned on me that they were going to get me pissed off so that I would change.

Turning to Ulgar, I warned, "Don't! If you do this I'm going to kill everyone. I can't control this yet!"

Completely ignoring me he signaled Azula to begin. My friends looked away, closing their eyes. I braced myself for what's about to come.

"I'm going to enjoy this." I heard Azula say from behind.

Azula quickly lifted her hand and brought the flaming whip down onto my back, making a cracking noise. The whip burned into my flesh, as I desperately tried to keep from yelling out in pain not wanting to give her any satisfaction. Each time she brought the whip down on my back, I bit my bottom lip, muffling my cry. I cringed as she dug deeper into my back. The pain I felt as she repeatedly hit me with the fire whip was indescribable; it hurt so much I began to feel faint. My lip started to bleed, and I finally couldn't take it anymore.

As she brought down the whip for the fifth time, I yelled in pain. The smell of burning flesh filled the area along with my cries and the sound of the whip echoing throughout the village, making the atmosphere bleak and depressing. Now I no longer seemed like the strong willed, joke-loving, Guardian who was supposed to protect her friends, instead in my place was a young girl writhing underneath the fire whip which caused so much torment. The soldiers around me began to feel sorry for me, this little girl, screaming. The smell of blood and burned flesh became almost unbearable, but it didn't make any difference to Azula. It only encouraged her to hit harder and quicker.

Ulgar managed to get the cloth out of his mouth without letting anyone see, "No stop it! She's just a kid, she doesn't deserve this!" he yelled, while more tears formed at the corners of his eyes.

"Stop hurting her!" I heard Aang yell, who also had tears in his eyes along with Katara. Toph, Sokka and Zuko only had their eyes shut, turning away and wincing with every crack of the whip that met my wounds.

Even Ulgar looked at me with a tiny amount of sympathy. He knew Azula was getting carried away, but he didn't dare stop her, not now.

But their pleas were unheard by the evil Azula, who enjoyed every minute of my pain. I was beginning to feel the anger build up in me. I didn't want to change not when there's a possibility that I could hurt my friends. I resisted the urge, but it was harder than I thought.

Now Azula was putting more force behind her whip as she continued her inflictions. I arched my back, screaming out. I fell forward but the soldiers caught me, making my arms pull back making me cry out in anguish. The blood trickled from my wounds, forming a small puddle under me. The soldiers holding me were loosening their grip the more I cried in agony. My nose was now bleeding and I started to cough up blood; it tasted bitter in my mouth. The wounds were too much to heal on my own and I was tempted to give up and die, but I knew if I did that I'd be letting everyone down; I'd be letting my people down.

The insides of my body heated up like fire. I was losing control and I could tell that my eyes had changed color because Ulgar stepped back in fear. The soldiers let go of me as I dropped to the ground, shaking. Azula continued beating me as I struggled to get back up, but my arms failed me and I fell flat on the ground onto the puddle of blood. That was it if I held it in any longer then Azula would beat me to death, then how would I be able to help my friends? I let the anger out.

Azula, who thought she'd broken me, laughed in victory, "She is nothing but a pathetic peasant, like the rest of her people. Who would be afraid of her?"

I slowly turned to her, showing my bright golden eyes, "You should be." I growled menacingly.

Then, I groggily got on my knees again and yelled out to my friends as my change neared completion; "RUN!" the soldiers attacked me, not paying any attention that my friends were now free.

They hesitated, but Ulric pulled them along yelling something that I couldn't hear. I saw Aang struggle to come and help me, but Ulric took him by the arm and dragged him off.

I was a fully transformed werewolf, standing on two feet. My jet black fur glistened in the light as I roared at the oncoming fire benders. I had no control over myself now, I felt like I was outside of my body just watching me attack my enemies with ferocity not relenting even a little. I saw my friends run off into the woods, going to get Appa. Aang looked back at me for a second, pain in his eyes; he was sorry that I had to go through this. I was sorry too. Then they were gone.

Azula was shooting blue fire at me, trying to see where my weak spot was. Ulgar ran off, like the coward he is. As I fought I even used some air bending to blow the soldiers off of me. Two soldiers were kicking fire at me, and I grabbed one of them by the leg and threw him against the other knocking them unconscious. Seeing that they were crowding me I sliced one soldier in the chest, shocked; the soldier clutched his chest and fell to the ground dead. I jumped up into the air landing behind another soldier; I picked him up by the neck and slammed him into the ground, feeling his neck break under my hand he died instantly. One of the soldiers threw a fire ball at my back, making me roar in outrage.

As more and more soldiers were going on defense, I focused on Azula. She was using short but hard jabs at me which I successfully dodged with ease. And that pissed her off. She swiped the grown with her foot sending fire at my feet. I jumped at her and she side stepped, making me fall to the ground. I could have easily counter attacked her but I was driven by pure hate and anger, so I didn't have my usual fighting sense. Everyone was gathering around me now, and I knew I couldn't win; there were at least twenty of them and only one of me plus I was in a full blown rampage not paying attention to any of my surroundings and to add to that I was beaten and weak with blood still dripping from my wounds.

Azula shot fire at my face, and I shielded my eyes. While I was distracted one of the soldiers threw a huge net at me. I thrashed around, trying to get the net off; unsuccessfully. They dragged me away to their ship, while I growled at them.

The last thing I saw before Azula kicked me unconscious was Appa flying away with my friends. Aang was looking back at me teary eyed. And I was looking back at him; for the first time in my peoples' history a fully transformed werewolf cried. Then I blacked out.

Different pieces of my memory flashed in and out. I was with my father fishing. I was five years old. Ulric was there with me, he was seven. I saw myself put the fishing pole down and tackle Ulric. We were laughing joyfully as we wrestled on the ground. My father looked over and chuckled at our antics. Suddenly little Ulric and I tackled my dad to the ground. As we pinned him down, he pretended to yell out in defeat. The three of us laughed as we lay on the ground.

Then my vision flashed to when I was eight and I was watching my father cook in the kitchen. Sitting at the dinner table I talked with my Mentor Lupis as we waited for the food. We heard a loud BAM coming from the kitchen. The both of us rushed in to see what happened. My father turned around with exploded food all over his face and clothes. Lupis and I began to laugh hysterically; my father soon recovered from shock and joined in on the laughter.

Again my vision changed. Now I was ten and standing in front of the seven elders of our village. They were telling me that I'm a Guardian and that I needed to begin training immediately because they felt something horrible will happen in the upcoming future. I ran from them as they called for me to come back. I didn't want to be a monster. I wasn't ready for this; I was only ten after all. Every child in the village stayed away from me, they even called me an animal. Ulric was my only friend.

My vision changing, I saw I was thirteen before my village was attacked. I was carving my own design into the white arch in front of my village. The people of my village were watching me. As I finished, everyone clapped and I bowed in return. Ulric, now fifteen, and my father walked up to me and gave me a hug. I opened my eyes to find that I was now holding my dead father on the battle field and Ulric was taken away. My village was burning down all around me.

This time my vision changed to the present. It was what had just happened. I saw myself actually killing people; sure they were fire nation, but still people. I saw myself being dragged away to their ship. As they dragged me I saw all the carnage, blood all over the ground. I couldn't control myself it wasn't my fault! Azula pushed me over the edge! And yet I killed all those people, I was truly a monster.

ULRIC'S P.O.V

They hesitated, but I urged them along yelling, "We need to get out of here!"

"But we can't just leave her!" Toph hollered back.

"We have to, for our sake. And hers." I said, calmly.

They reluctantly ran to the north side of the island, where there were no fire nation ships, looking for their flying bison. I had a little trouble with Aang though. He didn't want to leave Kyra, he wanted to help.

"Come on we have to go!" I yelled grabbing his arm as he struggle against my force.

"I can't just leave her!" he yelled back, his eyes brimming with tears.

"You have to; if you get captured then her suffering will be in vain!"

He still seemed unsure as he looked at his feet; I sighed and calmly said, over the clamor of battle, "Look, I don't want to leave her any more than you do. But we have to if we want to get out of this alive and save her."

After a moment of silence he tugged his arm out of my grasp, finally deciding that we'd save her later, he ran to the others and I followed.

They introduced themselves to me while we were tied up. Not the best introduction I've had. Anyway, Aang had called Appa with some kind of whistle and we lifted off. Of course, with Momo and Shadow with us (Kyra's new pet, I've heard.) whom if without their help we'd be captured.

As we flew farther from the island, everyone looked back to see Kyra in her werewolf form being dragged away in a net. Everyone was angry and sad about what happened. But Aang seemed to be the one most grief stricken out of all of us. He kept staring at the island, crying silent tears.

Katara moved over to upset air bender and tried to comfort him by giving the boy a shoulder to cry on.

I was upset too; I mean I've known Kyra practically all my life. But I didn't cry; I was just plain pissed off. Kyra had gone through enough already; she didn't need be tortured like an animal. I silently cursed myself for even thinking that comment. I was feeling the brotherly instincts kick in, enough thought I'm not her blood brother.

"So what are we going to do now?" asked Toph, crossing her arms angrily.

"First, we need to find a place to land and rest." said Katara, still sitting next to Aang.

"Then, we make a plan to rescue Kyra." added Sokka, holding his chin and already mulling over some ideas.

I looked up, a bit alarmed, "But we don't even know where that ship is going; it could be heading straight for the fire nation capitol for all we know." I stated, worriedly.

Zuko finally piped up, "I know. They wouldn't head to the capitol in just one run. They'd have to stop for supplies and fuel, most likely at a small fortress. And I have a pretty good idea where that might be."

I nodded, feeling more at ease. Katara began to shift around in place, until Sokka finally asked, "What's wrong Katara?"

She sighed and said, "I just can't get what happened today out of my head. I keep hearing Kyra's yells in my head and I was thinking; why would anyone do that to a kid? I mean did you see how much pain she was causing Kyra? I knew Azula was evil but this is just . . . only a person with no soul would do that."

"I don't know Katara. Kyra is strong, she didn't let up. Azula is just twisted, I think she has no soul." he answered, lost in thought.

Everyone agreed, but Aang. He didn't make a sound since we left the island. He was just lying there, showing no emotion. Poor kid, he really is worried about Kyra.

In an hour we landed in a deserted area, no civilization for miles. I helped setting up camp and gathering some food. But as we ate, no one spoke. They were either deep in thought about what happened that day, or thinking about how to rescue Kyra. Everything seemed . . . empty.

That night I had a nightmare about Kyra. I could hear her screaming in pain like she did earlier that day, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't find her or help her.

I woke up with a start, sweat beading down my forehead. I desperately tried to catch my breath and calm down. Katara sat up in her sleeping bag a few feet away from me.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" I asked.

She shook her head, "No, I was already awake. Did you have a bad dream?" she asked sweetly.

I lay back down and rested my hands on my stomach, staring up at the sky, "Yeah, I had a nightmare about Kyra." I whispered, not wanting to wake anyone up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she whispered, leaning on her elbow and resting her chin on her hand.

"Naw, it's ok." I said.

She lay back down, like I did and stared up at the sky as well.

"The stars are beautiful tonight." She said.

"Yeah . . . hey Katara, do you ever get the feeling that someone is watching you from up there?" I asked, interested.

"Sometimes, I feel like my mom is watching over me. Just making sure I'm alright." She said, sadly.

Thinking that I had somehow sprung up some bad memory I turned over to face her, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean, I didn't know-"

She smiled a little as she turned to me, "No it's ok. Don't feel bad."

We sat there in silence for a bit, until this annoying curiosity got the best of me, "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your mom?"

She sighed and turned onto her back looking a bit distant, "She was killed in a fire nation raid in the Southern Water Tribe."

Turning onto my back I stared at the stars again, "I never knew my parents, I'm an orphan." Since she shared a bit about her past then I decided to share mine.

"Like you I sometimes feel like someone is watching over me. Maybe my real parents are up there somewhere protecting me wherever I go." I said, happy to get that off my chest.

She looked at me and smiled warmly, understanding how I felt. I returned the gesture, "Kyra's dad took me in and raised me since I was a little kid. We sort of grew up like brother and sister."

We continued to talk about how much our 'siblings' bugged us sometimes and the trouble we usually got into with them.

After talking we lay in comfortable silence until both of us fell asleep. We were going to have a long day tomorrow, since we'd be searching for the fortress and rescuing Kyra. I made a silent promise that I would show those fire nation soldiers just how much pain Kyra suffered; I'm not going to show mercy, not anymore.

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**Thnx! For reading. And Thank You to all that reviewed, it makes me VERY happy to see that people read my story and tell me what they think. I value oppinions whether good or bad, they help me improve!**

** Again Thanks for reading and Pweeeeeeeeeese Review! ^_^**


	8. Chapter 8: For The Ones You Love

**I'm veeeeeeery sorry that it took me this long to update. But I've actually been going through a tough time lately, one of my relatives had passed away in Iraq and it affected me more than I thought.**

**But I'm ok now and I'll try and update whenever I can. I just wanted to answer the question of 'Waterbender09', Um well when I wrote that chapter of Kyra transforming I had this mental picture in my head of a werewolf standing on two legs, with a wolf's head, rather muscly but not intense. So no Kyra is not one of those werewolves that you see in Twilight, try and picture her like the werewolf in the movie Van Helsing (If you've seen it). Because the more humanoid looking werewolf seem alot more interesting to me than an normal over grown wolf. No offence to Twilight fans :) **

**By the way, reveiwer 'Sarah' in the beginning when I first began to write this story I also thought that Kyra being a werewolf might be. . . I don't know, weird? But then I thought that I haven't read any fanficts about such things as one of the main characters being a werewolf. In a way I thought that this one detail makes the story more unique.**

**Sorry 'bout the huge author's note, let's get to the story XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, (maybe one day) *evil laugh* ;)**

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**Chapter 8: For The Ones You Love**

Krya's P.O.V

I drifted in and out of consciousness as they dragged me to their ship. I could feel the adrenaline rush, slowly drain from my body. No longer in my wolf form, I saw that I still had my original clothes on except now they were covered in burn marks and were ripped up from the whipping I received earlier. I struggled to stay conscious so that I could get some idea where they were putting me.

The soldiers took me to a cold metal cell beneath the hull of the ship. A rather young soldier took out a metal key and began to turn the lock, opening the door. The soldier that was behind me lifted the net that tangled around my body. He looked much older with a roughly grown beard and cold brown eyes. As soon as he untangled me he literally lifted me off the ground by my arms and threw me into the cell like I was nothing but a piece of trash. My cut covered back collided with the hard metal wall, resulting in me screaming out in pain. The younger soldier just stood in the back of the room and stared at me sympathetically.

I winced as the older soldier slammed the door shut. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and spit at me through the bars, "Filthy animal."

I only lowered my head, staring at the ground, "Takes one to know one."

He lunged at the bars, trying to bend fire at my feet, "Why you little-"

The younger soldier stepped up and grabbed the other soldiers arm before he could make any fire, "It doesn't make you a brave man by attacking a defenseless young girl."

The older man angrily tugged his arm out of the other soldiers grasp and trudged out of the room not bothering to shut the door behind him. The other soldier followed, but before closing the door he gave me a small smile, "I'll make sure they'll give you some food."

When he closed the door the room immediately turned dark and bleak with just a sliver of light coming from a small port hole in the wall. The cell was empty, nothing in it but chains on the walls once used to restrain a person. I knew that this wasn't the end of my suffering. Azula will want to know where Aang went and she'd do anything to get the information out of me. But I was determined to keep my friends safe and if I had to sacrifice my well being in order to do that, then so be it.

I had dried blood on my face and back. Every time I moved the healing wounds on my back would crack open, letting more blood flow down my legs. While I looked myself over I realized just how much of a beating I got. I had welts and bruises all over my legs, arms, and back. I truly looked horrible. But it was all part of being a Guardian, protecting your loved ones, the innocent, and (in my case) the Avatar at all costs even if it means sacrificing my own life.

The more I thought about this the more I came to the conclusion that it was because of me that my friends were in danger in the first place. Ulgar found me, he knew where we'd go, and he knew that I traveled with the Avatar. They also wanted me so that I could be of use to the fire nation. It was my fault they we were discovered and got hurt. I needed to be more careful.

I quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of my head. Now wasn't the time for me to dwell on the past. I had to focus on surviving whatever beatings I'll get. Besides they're my friends they would do anything to help me, as I would do the same. After all, Aang was going through the same thing. The fire nation wants him because he's the Avatar so other people were bound to chase us. I was doing my job in protecting them, _but I am still just a kid_.

My thinking was interrupted by loud footsteps followed by a bang. Lifting my head with whatever energy I had left, I saw Ulgar standing in front of my cell with his hands behind his back. I chuckled, it's funny to see him try and look 'sophisticated'.

"I didn't want to do this you know." he said.

I turned my head scoffing, "You mean abandoning our people, hurting my friends, and beating me to near death. Yeah, I'm sure you didn't want to do any of that."

Holding in his anger he looked at me, "It wasn't my fault Azula did that to you. She was going too far, but if I'd stop her she'd-"

"Take it out on you?" I finished, glaring at the coward.

"You should have just given up the Avatar and joined the fire nation." he replied, shaking his head.

Growing angry, I reduced my voice to a deep whisper, "After what you and the fire nation did to my people, my family? Never!"

He looked frustrated, "Don't you see the potential the fire nation has? They're a great nation with great ideas and they're spreading their wisdom throughout the world, thanks to Ozai!" he put his hands on the bars and drastically lowered his voice, "And if you would have just joined me we'd be able to share the wealth. If you'd turn in the Avatar you'd be a Hero!"

"A hero?" I exclaimed laughing at how ignorant he is, "Ulgar are you even listening to what your blathering? The fire nation is murdering people, they killed off a great nation, they want to destroy the water tribes, and now take over the world. On top of that they've got you brain washed into thinking that they are some great nation spreading wisdom!" I was fuming now, "Ozai is spreading fear, suffering, and pain, not wisdom. You, of all people, should know that. Helping the fire nation would make me a coward."

Ulgar turned around, yelling, "You want everyone to think you're a monster? FINE! It's your life, not mine. When Ozai wins this war and makes every land mass fire nation, I will not save your ass when they decide to execute you."

He walked to the door and before he exited, I said, "Lupis would be ashamed at what you've become. And if I die protecting the people I love, remember what you did. Everybody chooses some kind of path to take in their life; it's our job to figure out which is the right one. What path did you choose, Ulgar?"

Ulgar slammed the door, not saying a word. I knew I left him with something to think about, but I didn't think he'd change his mind at all. He's too much of a self centered coward, busy with digging his own hole that he'd eventually get trapped in.

I leaned against the frigid wall and looked out through the port hole. It was night fall and the moon was shining bright; I closed my eyes and fell asleep with at least some comfort knowing my friends were ok.

* * *

Ulric's P.O.V

We woke up early in the day. The night before, we had packed most of our things so the Gaang (as they called our little group) was ready to go. As Katara, Zuko, and Sokka put the rest of their things in Appa's saddle I decided to talk to Aang. Katara told me that he usually wasn't this sad and gloomy, but he was up-beat, happy, and sometimes very hyper. When she described Aang, I immediately thought of Kyra. She was exactly like him, happy and all. But once she was told that she had this "gift", Kyra became a completely different person turning from happy-go-lucky to serious and adult-like. I missed the old Kyra.

I found Aang standing near a cliff that over looked the rest of the forest. The sun was just peeking over the mountain side letting its bright orange light shine on top of the tree canopy before us. I would have thought the view kind of beautiful if it wasn't for the depressing atmosphere surrounding the camp. Aang looked preoccupied in his own thoughts, staring out at the forest with a blank expression on his face.

"Hey Aang," I said, trying to get his attention.

"Hey. . ." he replied, still facing the forest.

_That's it; he needs to snap out of it_, "What's up with you? You've been very distant and according to Katara you usually don't act like this- so spill." I said, determined to get him to talk.

He sighed and looked down at his feet unwilling to answer.

I had an idea why he was so distant, but I wasn't sure. I thought that he was real good friends with Kyra and he was just concerned. It seemed that he was a lot more affected by this than he should've been. If you get what I mean.

"We're going to save her. Everything will be fine," I reassured him.

He continued to stare at his feet as he explained, "I'm worried about her. I'm worried about what she might be going through right now, and if she's ok," He turned to me now, desperation in his eyes, "What if Azula is torturing her as we speak? They could seriously hurt her, they- they could-"

Now he was panicking and flailing his arms. I grabbed him by the shoulders and lightly shook him as I spoke, attempting to snap him out of his panic attack, "Hey! She. Will. Be. Fine," I poked him in the head, "Get that through your thick skull, and stop assuming what might be happening. Your under-estimating Kyra, she's stronger than she looks. Whatever those guys throw her way, she can handle it. Trust me."

I let go of him and his arms drooped as he relaxed a bit, "You're right, Ulric. I just don't want anything else to happen to her."

"I understand, but try not to worry about it too much you'll drive yourself crazy. Now come on," I said, motioning towards the rest of the group who where now on the bison waiting for Aang and I, "let's go rescue your girlfriend."

He followed with a shocked yet annoyed look on his face, "Ulric, she's just a good friend nothing more." He said, quite unconvincingly since his cheeks shined a bright red.

"Riiiiight. Let's go rescue your friend," I replied sarcastically, and added quickly, "who just happens to be your girlfriend." Katara and Sokka snickered at what I said. Toph was grinning in amusement.

Aang groaned, now fully annoyed as we climbed onto the bison and took off. Toph punched me in the arm making me yelp in surprise, "Who knew Spunky could tell jokes."

Everyone broke into a fit of laughter. Zuko completely turned around hiding his smirk.

I rubbed my arm, a little taken a back but grinning because I managed to lighten the mood. Plus, I found an excuse to annoy Aang and Kyra. Sometimes I only teased Kyra when she needs to lighten up, It's kind of my thing; I like to cheer people up when they don't need to be sad and gloomy.

I laid back on the saddle relaxing and trying not to worry about Kyra, when I finally rendered what Toph said to me.

I stared at her in disbelief with an offended yet surprised edge in my voice, "_Spunky_?"

More laughter erupted from around me as I hid my flustered face in my tunic collar.

* * *

Kyra's P.O.V

This time when I awoke, I didn't find myself in an empty cell but in some kind of chamber with each of my arms chained to a pillar. How I managed to sleep through my transportation to this fort and being chained to two pillars is beyond me; all I knew was that kneeling on the ground with my arms outstretched wasn't exactly a comfortable position to wake up in, especially since my back was just beginning to heal. I'd deal with the sore muscles but losing the feeling in my arms and legs I could do without.

I slowly lifted my head to take a better look at my surroundings. The chamber wasn't much really, there were torches hung at each corner of the room along with the torches that were on top of the pillars which gave the room an eerie orange-red glow. Other than that, the room was empty._ These guys really need to do some serious redecoration_.

My wrists began to hurt from the strain there was put on them making me wince every time I moved.

So I just kneeled there staring at the floor and thinking about my friends wondering what they were doing. I really missed them. I especially missed Sokka's, Shadow's, and Toph's antics; I suppose they were like the group's source of comedy. I missed Ulric, Zuko, Katara, and Aang; being separated from them is like having my heart ripped right out of my chest, leaving me feeling hollow inside.

But the one person that I truly missed the most (next to Ulric of course) was Aang. Over the time that I didn't have Ulric around I realized that Aang was the one who was really there for me. I even felt like I had a real connection with him, like we understood each other. Plus, I missed how goofy and funny he could be, also –I can't believe that I'm actually sharing this- I sort of, kind of thought that he was real cute. (Let's say that I don't always embrace my girlish "instincts", if you could call it that.)

I heard someone enter the chamber and close the door with a loud clang, making me pull away from my deep thinking. Facing the door I saw it was that young soldier whom I met on the ship. He was carrying a tray with a bowl of white rice.

"They wouldn't let me into your cell earlier, so I snuck in now." he said, setting the tray on the ground and taking keys out of his pocket.

He unlocked the cuffs from my wrists and sat down, pushing the tray towards me. I slumped over on my knees when he released the cuffs. Moving my wrists to get the blood flowing again, I stared confusedly at the soldier.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked, suspiciously.

He shrugged and said, "I just thought it isn't right to torture a kid." He handed me the bowl of rice, "Plus, I actually have a heart."

I nodded as I began to eat the rice. If I weren't so weak I'd be laughing my ass off at the irony. At least now I knew not all fire nation were heartless.

As I swallowed a spoonful of rice I asked, "What's your name?"

"Kei and you?"

"Kyra."

After a moment of mulling over how different he was from the rest of the fire nation soldiers I decided to share my thoughts on this guy.

"Never change Kei. The more people there are like you in the fire nation the more hope there'll be to end this war." I said, as I continued to eat.

He stared at the floor, contemplating what I told him.

Finishing my rice and I handed the bowl back to Kei. He put the chain on my wrists and picked the tray up, heading towards the door. He turned to me before leaving and said, "Just for the record, I don't believe that you're an animal. You're more human than anyone in this place."

I stared back at him as he left the chamber, closing the door behind him. I was dumbfounded; I never heard anyone say that to me, let alone from a fire nation soldier. _What is this? Have I just witnessed a fire nation soldier show compassion towards someone of a different nation?_

People like Kei can be the start of a better future for the fire nation, _hopefully_.

Suddenly I began to hear footsteps and people whispering outside of my door. It sounded like there were two people arguing, talking in hushed tones. I could only grasp a few bits of the conversation.

". . . You're going to kill her if you try this tactic! Then we'll never get the information we need!" whispered the man angrily.

A gingerly sharp voice of a woman interrupted the man before he could say anything else, "I never said I was going to kill her, I'll just . . . and then we're done . . . what do you care?"

The voices continued to argue for a while until the door flew open and in walked the crazy Princess Azula. As the door closed, I caught a glimpse of Ulgar standing in the hallway smiling. Somehow I just knew that something horrible was gonna happen.

As Azula approached me I looked up at her saying, "So the Crazy Witch finally visits her prisoner. How sweet, what do we have in store for today?"

"SILENCE!" she yelled, her voice echoing throughout the chamber.

She pointed at me, her finger less than an inch away from my face, "You speak when spoken to."

I furrowed my eyebrows and glared at her hand in my face, "You want to lose that finger, don't you?"

She retracted her hand, "I think you've learned by now that you don't mess with the fire nation, let alone fire nation royalty. I mean, you saw what happened to Zuzu right?" she asked, circling me as she spoke.

I was thinking it; I didn't say it before because I knew it wouldn't help. But it absolutely had to be said.

I shook my head grinning slightly, "Wow, you're a right out bitch aren't you?"

Now, I've gotta say that I regretted saying those words the second after she shot me the most menacingly scary glare I'd ever seen in my life. (But come on, YOU tell me that you weren't thinking that.)

"I suppose you want an example of why you shouldn't speak to me that way." She hissed, as she positioned herself in front of me.

She began to move her hands in circular motions, with each passing moment a spark of blue appeared on the tips of her two fingers. Right when she pointed her fingers at me, I realized that she was going to shoot me with lightening. I watched the crackling blue lightening in horror as it finally hit my body.

I felt the most unendurable pain I've ever felt course through my body. It was a million times worse than being whipped with fire. It felt like I had liquidy hot embers burning in my veins, boiling my insides like a pot of water. While the lightening finished its course around my body the heat lessened and I was beginning to feel this lingering pain of icy cold needles pricking my skin. I was literally being drained of my energy by this cold feeling as I let my body droop; hanging with the chains that held me by my wrists. This frigid sensation spread to my limbs, leaving my arms and legs twitch involuntarily. Whatever strength I had left gave away and I was shaking as the pain slowly, very slowly faded.

Azula would've killed me that second if she wanted to, but she was going to make my pain last a little longer. She needed information from me, she'd keep me alive long enough to get it. Too bad she didn't know I wasn't gonna tell her no matter what she did. But to be truthful, I didn't think I could take another shot like that.

Azula bent down to my convulsing body and asked, "Now, tell me where the Avatar went and I just might let you live."

Still in pain, I motioned her to move closer to me, "Bite me!" I spat in her face.

This didn't please her one bit because now she snarled at me and made more of those circular motions. I shut my eyes and waited for the inevitable. Once again I heard the frightening crackle of lightening in my ear and my body went through a whole other level of pain. She was intensifying the strength of the lightening in an attempt to make me talk. I supposed she didn't know that I was already prepared to die.

Azula was giddy with laughter as she watched me scream in agony.

Thinking that this was already enough to make me talk she crouched on the ground with her hands on her knees, "It's fun to torment a wild animal. I'm delighted that your kind was "cured" from that pitiful island you call home; makes more room for our colonies," Her smile turned to a glare as she leaned over her knees, "Where is the Avatar."

I had trouble controlling my muscles and it took me a moment to respond, "F-fuck you," I managed to croak out whilst I struggled to control my body.

Azula was completely outraged as she sent out multiple bursts of lighting at me shrieking, "You little vermin!"

At that point I knew that my screams and yells of torture weren't contained within the chamber, but it spread throughout the halls to haunt every single guard or soldier present in the stronghold.

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Ulric's P.O.V

"There it is!" yelled Sokka pointing to a valley of hills.

You could distinctly see two tall watch towers in the distance over one of the hills. As we neared the fort, it began to look quite obvious that the building was rather small and it couldn't be that challenging to infiltrate.

We landed a good distance away from the fort so we wouldn't be detected. Although I can't see why anyone wouldn't be able to see a humongous fluffy creature with a big arrow on its head but that's just me over-thinking things. Anyway, no one bothered with unpacking since we were just going to save Kyra and run our butts out of there.

The sun began to set as Zuko lit a small fire for us to keep warm. All was quiet around the makeshift camp as we huddled around the fire. I was apsent-mindedly petting Shadows head as he was lying down by my feet.

I decided to speak up, "How exactly are we going to save Kyra? Assuming that she's even here."

"We would have to find some sort of back entrance, or a way to sneak past the guards," answered Sokka.

Aang turned to Zuko who was staring at the fortress in the distance, "Zuko you would know better than anyone how to sneak in. You did it to free me once when I was captured by Zhao."

Zuko looked up from the fire and scanned our faces, "Well, all I really did was hide inside a wagon as it passed through the gates. The rest I planned as I went."

"Well, we don't have a wagon so that's out of the picture," exclaimed Sokka.

"But I don't really think sneaking in is the problem, its how many fire goons are actually in the place," interjected Toph.

"She's right, I mean the fort isn't exactly a complex prison it's just used to supply ships as they pass by," added Katara.

"I guess we'll just have to combine our skills, and figure out a way to sneak into the fort and rescue Kyra." I said, _easier said than done_.

Looking at Sokka I could practically see the cogs turning in his brain and smoke coming out of his ears as he formulated the plan in his head, "Ok you guys I've got a plan; listen closely . . ."

In Sokka's plan everyone had a different role to take with the infiltration. Aang would have to get over the wall with air bending and knock out any guards that would be at the front gate including the ones in the watch tower. Then he'd open the gates to let us through, and Zuko would scout ahead and take care of any guards that'd get in our way. After that was where the fun began, everyone would split up and check all the chambers for Kyra all the while trying to avoid fights with guards. But we all knew we'd have to fight our way in so there would be no use in even attempting to sneak by any guards.

"Everyone got the plan?" questioned Sokka after finishing his explanation.

Everyone replied with a nod and a 'yup'. Immediately we put out the fire and silently made our way to the fort, leaving Shadow and Momo on high alert in case anything happened while we were gone.

Feeling someone tapping my shoulder, I turned to face Katara who looked at me questioningly, "How are you going to fight the guards, can you bend?"

I shook my head, "No, but I was trained in hand-to-hand combat. And I'm considered to be very good at it, if I do say so myself." I said, confidently tugging at my tunic collar.

She stifled a laugh, "I'm sure you are." She said, while walking far out in front of me.

Grinning smugly, I jogged to her side and kept pace next to her.

Soon enough we neared the fort and quickly hid in some bushes as Aang swiftly made his way over the wall using his glider, unseen. In a matter of minutes he had the gate open for us and we slid inside. Zuko scouted ahead as the rest of us crouched in the shadows, waiting for the right moment.

Zuko successfully took out five guards without a hitch, but unfortunately the spirits aparantly decided that today was a good day to pick on us.

A guard saw Zuko and yelled, "Intruder!" before being hit in the head by Sokka's boomerang.

"Shit!" I muttered to myself, as the Gaang sprang into action fighting the guards that began to emerge from their posts.

One guard managed to sneak up on me, putting his hands underneath my arms and locking his fingers together behind my head. I struggled to free my arms as I backed him into a large crate, making him let go of me. I spun around and punched his jaw, leaving him unconscious.

"Ugh!" I hissed shaking my hand from the pain.

I continued fighting while surveying my surroundings. Katara was using her pouch filled with water to water whip guards in the head. Zuko was somewhere in the distance punching fire at some goons. Sokka was fighting off a couple guys with his sword and Toph was kicking the butts of six fire benders who failed at surprising her from behind.

The one person I couldn't see on the battle field was Aang. While dodging a few fire balls, I kicked and punched my way up to the building. The metal door was open and that was when I realized that Aang went ahead and began his search in the building.

I ran into the halls and franticly searched for any sign of Aang. I opened each and every door I saw, peeking in to see if anyone was inside. With each empty room I became more and more frustrated. After about twenty minutes of searching I found a hallway that was littered with unconscious soldiers.

"Bingo!"

Quickly following the trail of guards, I ran into a fire bender.

"Stop!" he yelled.

He attempted to push me, but I grabbed his arm and twisted it around his back. Using my other hand I shoved his head into the steel wall next to us, letting him fall to the ground joining his other friends.

"Sleep tight asshole," I said to the guard.

Continuing down the hallways I finally ran into Aang as he was exiting a room. Right behind him followed another fire bender.

"Aang there's one right behind you!" I yelled, jumping towards the fire bender.

I didn't get to land a hit on the guy, because Aang held me back. I looked at Aang with a 'what the hell do you think you're doing?' face.

"He's a friend. His name is Kei and he said he'd lead us to where Kyra is." he explained.

I pointed at the guard angrily, still looking at Aang, "Are you sure we can trust him?"

"What choice do we have?"

Kei started to run, turning a corner while motioning us to follow, "Come on we don't have much time!"

Following him, we stopped in front of a sturdy metal door. Kei turned to us with a worried face, "I have to warn you that you're not going to like what you're about to see."

Ignoring the warning Aang and I pushed by Kei and rushed into the room. What we saw surely made our blood boil, but Aang went through whole sets of emotions in just a couple seconds. His face turned from shocked to horror to just pure anger. Aang clutched his glider so hard that his knuckles turned white; if it were possible, he'd be shooting lazers out of his eyes right then.

As for me? Well I was going to unleash all my fury on this hell hole.

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**I wanted to give a special thanks to all of the readers that have reveiwed so far. I really appreciate that people use their time to read and reveiw my stories. You guys have no idea how much this means to me. :) let me know what you think of the writing, and share you're opinion on what you think I should improve on; it really helps!**

**Just to point one thing out in this story, I think you noticed that Kyra (surprisingly) is loosing up a bit and sort of lets her real personality shine through. Because in this chapter she sort of realizes that there's a chance that she might die, and wastes no time in letting her real self out for a bit. I promise that you guys will see more of Kyra's personality in the next chapters. Also I realized that I haven't really given any physical descriptions of Ulric, so I'll also do that in the later chapters.**

**Thnx for reading and please review! XD**


	9. Chapter 9: Recovery With Regret Part 1

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I don't think I did well on this chapter, but maybe that's only because I tired from the hike I did this morning. (Not my idea, damn my Uncle and his obsession with physical health XD) I'm sure there are a couple grammar mistakes here, so be jentle ^_^

**Anyway, at first this wasn't going to be a two part chapter but with highschool starting soon and me busy with family matters, I might not have had much time to write a huge chapter. No worries though, I'm sure it won't take long for me to update the second part. :) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender show, I do own the DVD box sets and the video games though! AND an Appa plushy! -sad I know- ;)**

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**Chapter 9: Recovery And Regret - Part 1**

Kyra's P.O.V

Azula got tired from shooting lightening, so she had one of her soldiers release me from my chains. I fell to the ground with a muffled 'thump', still struggling to control my body. My vision was beginning to blur as I stared up at the soldier's eyes. His eyes bared no guilt, no remorse, just pure unadulterated hatred. That was when I recognized this man; he was the same guy that called me a 'filthy animal' back at the ship. Looking at his eyes only made a huge feeling of despair wash over me, like a wave that came crashing down only to return with greater force. It seemed as if he wanted to hurt me, yearning to torture me.

Refusing to show him fear I only glared at the soldier, sending him my own little message.

"Do what you may, just get her to talk," said Azula, looking at the soldier.

The man's lips curled into a grin as he stared at me with the same hunger for pain as Azula. He got into position to strike me before Azula stopped him.

She raised her hand with an evil smile, "When she gives the information, kill her. I don't ever want to see that pitiful face again."

Then she left the room, leaving me with this unpredictable man who'd love to take his anger out on me.

He got back into position and kicked me in the gut, knocking out whatever wind I had left in my lungs. He continued to kick me until I was clutching my stomach, barely able to catch my breath. The soldier eventually resorted to punching me while I was on the ground. My bottom lip was begin to swell and bleed from the beating. I felt a loud crack as he struck me on the nose, making it bleed as well. Moments after, the man kicked me with all his might; as I heard that stomach-turning snap I let out a loud yell, holding my pulsating sides. _Crap! Not again._

I suddenly felt intense pain, like someone had just ridden over my stomach with a Komodo-Rhino. I rolled over clutching my sides, groaning with misery.

The soldier stood there, enjoying my pain as I twisted around. I looked up at him, unable to see clearly because of the 'stars' that formed in front of my eyes.

"Ready to talk?" he asked, confident radiating from his evil smile.

I grinned smugly at him, "Sure, how's the weather?" I retorted, sarcastically.

Receiving an angry stare he sent another sharp kicked my way, resulting in me wheezing, "I'm guessing very cloudy." I said, hoarsely.

Now completely furious he grabbed me by my neck and shoved me across the room towards a metal wall. The agonizing pain shot through my sides again, as I clashed into the wall. He quickly walked up to me; my vision became hazy while I stared up at the towering figure above me.

Once again he picked me up only to punch my jaw then hurl me back across the room, towards the pillars I was chained to. In an effort to soften my fall I sent a gust of wind under me only to crash into the cold steel floor, motionless.

I knew I was going to die, I hoped that it happened quickly; but lying there, accepting death . . . it, it didn't feel right. I felt like I was abandoning my friends, like I was abandoning my family. Sure, I wanted to be with my father again and everyone else I once knew and loved. I needed to accept that I wasn't alone. I had to face the fact that my friends need my help. Like Lupis said, I have a new family now; quite possibly a new love. I wasn't going to let that go without a fight.

I gathered every ounce of strength I had, much to the soldier's surprise I slowly stumbled to my feet. Slightly leaning on my right foot I wiped the blood from my lip and looked at the wide-eyed man in front of me with as much hatred and anger as he showed me earlier.

"H-how d-did you?" he stuttered, with every passing second growing angrier at his failure.

He suddenly lurched forward, yelling as he attempted to punch me in the face. I deflected the hit and we just kept dodging and reversing every punch and or jab. We continued this dance until I began to weaken, my breathing grew harsh and slow. Sensing my tired state, the sodlier took every cheap shot imaginable as I stumbled and desperately tried to protect my mid-section. The power of my punches, kicks, and jumps declined till I could move no longer.

I only stood there exhausted. Taking advantage of this opportunity the man struck me down. I fell onto my back as my hearing faded and I could just faintly hear the creak of a metal door rebounding against a steel wall. Turning my head toward the sound, I saw Ulric and Aang standing in the doorway; staring in horror at this scene unfolding in front of them. The soldier didn't seem to notice the intruders because he only laughed with glee and stomped on my stomach causing me to give out a blood curdling yell of anguish and sorrow. At this point I was numb with pain.

I only heard ringing as I saw Ulric dart forward as if yelling "NO!" at the same time Aang ran to me yelling as well, "KYRA!"

I stared blankly at Ulric beating the crap out of the soldier. Then I saw Aang kneeling in front of me panicking and yelling. I was unresponsive, in shock from the blow to my already broken ribs I only stared at Aang while he yelled. He looked scared; in his eyes I could tell he felt pain and it hurt me to see him this way. I wanted so much to tell him it was ok, but I wasn't even sure of that myself. Aang was the last face I saw before being engulfed by darkness just slightly able to hear the mute cries of my best friend.

Ulric's P.O.V

I watched in terror as the soldier in front of Kyra stomped on her stomach. She let out a spine chilling cry while the man laughed even harder.

Completely overcome by anger I jumped forward, crying out in rage, "NOO!" seconds later I heard Aang yell in pain rather than anger, "KYRA!"

Tackling the soldier to the ground, I used my weight to keep him down whilst punching him left and right in the face. Stunned, the man could only stare back at me horrified. Hearing a satisfying crunch I pulled the dazed man up and forcefully pushed him against a wall, keeping his feet a few inches off the ground by the collar of his shirt.

"You've made the biggest mistake of your life." I hissed at his face.

His only response was a loud gulp. I pulled my arm back aiming for his gut when I felt someone stop my fist from hitting its target. I snapped my head to the person interfering, irritated.

"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled.

He shook his head, "He's not worth your time, Ulric."

Outraged I stared at him in disbelief, still clutching the shirt of the trembling soldier, "What? He deserves everything he gets!"

"We need to focus on getting Kyra out of here. She's weak and if we don't hurry she might not make it," he warned, his voice trembling at the last words.

"Fine," I said, grudgingly and let go of the man.

When Aang turned and ran to Kyra I quickly twisted around and gave the surprised soldier a round-house punch to the jaw, sending him face first to the ground. That felt good, I thought straightening out my cloths.

I put Kyra's arm over my shoulder and took her through the halls of the building while Aang was a few feet in front of us taking out any fire bender that dared cross our path. I noticed Kyra was slightly opening her eyes for a moment but then they rolled back into her head, losing consciousness.

I held her closer to me as I quickened my pace, "C'mon Kyra stay with me, stay with me."

Slamming a guard into the ceiling with his staff, Aang gave us a worried glance, "How's she doing?"

"Not good." I answered, looking at Kyra as she shivered and sweat, "I think she's got a fever."

"We're almost out," he said, running faster.

Picking Kyra up in my arms I raced forward with Aang. Soon enough we jogged out into the battle field just as the Gaang finished off the rest of the guards. When the Gaang saw us they looked happy we were ok, but their faces instantly fell when their eyes rested on Kyra's seemingly lifeless body.

Katara hesitantly stepped forward as Sokka asked, "Is she . . . you know," he trailed off.

"Dead? No, at least not yet," I finished, gazing sadly at Kyra.

Aang called Appa and as soon as he flew in with Shadow and Momo atop, I put Kyra onto the saddle. Shadow immediately jumped off and began to snarl at something behind us.

We were startled when we heard loud stomping of steel toed boots running out of the building toward us. There were many of them maybe fifteen or more, but none of us seemed to pay any attention to the heavily armored men. We stared icily at a maniacally laughing Azula who stepped in front of the group.

"Kill them, but leave the Avatar alive," she ordered.

The soldiers yelled battle cries as they charged at us. We had no time to climb onto Appa and escape so we fought. Even Shadow joined the battle, biting a man's arm. I noticed we were a bit over-powered, none the less we still held our ground.

A low growl emerged from behind us, thinking it was Appa I paid no mind to it and continued to batter my opponent. Out of nowhere I saw a dark large figure sail over our heads landing in front of the group of soldiers. It took me a minute to realize that the silhouette had a broad wolf head with wide pointed ears and pearly white fangs. It had human-like hands, with the exception that it bared deadly sharp claws. The beast had strong wolf legs and feet. The creature also had wide shoulders accompanied by bulky muscles, along with the dark fur that glistened in the moonlight. A jet black tail swished behind the creature giving it a graceful yet intimidating look.

Remembering our past days' events, I realized that this creature was Kyra. Just to prove my suspicion I glance at Appa's empty saddle, _yup it's her_. _How could she have had enough strength to change? Or even get up for that matter?_

"Guys, what am I feeling?" asked Toph, still in her earth bending stance.

No one heard her as the Gaang gaped at Kyra, who flashed her teeth, with her ears and tail pointed back growling deeply at our enemies. She looked ready to strike at the slightest twitch from her foe; she was frightening and that fear reflected off of the soldiers' faces. I heard a low trickle of liquid hitting the floor. _Did one of them actually pee themselves?_

Incredibly, one of the soldiers dared to challenge Kyra; and she instantly swiped him away with one swing of her mighty paw, sending him flying off into the darkness. She set her golden gaze on the others and that was enough of a warning for one soldier who ran away in hysterics. The others charged at Kyra as she roared loud enough to make the earth tremble slightly. The Gaang attacked with new found confidence taking down each soldier one by one; we didn't kill them, just knocked them unconscious and moved on to the next. But Kyra she killed the soldiers mercilessly tearing into each one gaining more rage with each kill.

Deep inside, when I looked into her eyes I could tell there was the real Kyra in there somewhere saddened by what she was doing. With every roar, I could swear that I heard the human side of Kyra weep for the lives she took. Aang probably felt that too because he had tears rolling down his cheeks as he fought. I was at the brink of tears, myself. It was a horrid scene to experience and I would never want anyone to go through this kind of lurching sickness and sorrow.

Seeing the carnage and realizing that they wouldn't have a good chance at succeeding in capturing the Avatar I saw Azula escape onto a ship near the docks. Following behind her I assumed was the figure of Ulgar. I was compelled to run after him and give him what's coming to him, but I needed to focus on the oncoming fire bender.

The soldier jumped into the air doing a summersault and at the same time bending fire out with his one outstretched foot, resembling a flaming wheel. I jumped to the side; the raging flames just barely graze my arm leaving a long scar along the length of my right arm. The man attempted to kick me as I held my bleeding arm. Still holding my wound I turned my whole body and interesepted his kick with my own. Turning to the left with the same motion; I kicked the soldier in the head leaving him spinning with a dazed look before falling to the dirt.

Looking around the whole Gaang stood and surveyed the unconscious and dead bodies of the soldiers. There was no other foes left standing, until I noticed Kyra growling at one soldier left among his friends. Giving out one last deep roar she grabbed the man by the sides of his arms and slammed him into the ground, most likely breaking every bone in the man's body; killing him.

Kyra had her back turned to us breathing fast as if she'd just run a fifty mile marathon. She stared at the dead soldiers petrified face for what seemed like an eternity. Kyra was somewhere in there; her human side and something told me we needed to reach in to her in order for her to return to normal.

Before anyone could utter a word she spun around and looked at us urgently. As her deep gold eyes darted from person to person I saw the battle going on inside between human and animal, fighting for control. Suddenly her eyes changed back to her normal color, a bright dark brown. She looked at us, emotions flooding through her as she scanned the men she killed. She then threw her head back and outstretched her arms letting out a mournful howl to the moon above. When the last of the howl escaped her lungs she fell to her knees whimpering.

I took a step forward, "Kyra?"

Instantaneously she snapped her now golden eyes to my dark blue ones. Slowly, she stood on all fours snarling at all six of us. She was losing this battle; she's too weak; her wounds restricted her force on the animal. Now she acted like we were the enemies and she had no recollection of who we are. Shadow even acted like he didn't know who Kyra was he lurked towards her barking and baring his teeth. Even Appa began to growl.

I lowered my hand to shadow and Appa, signaling them to calm, I didn't want to move any more than I should for fear of setting Kyra off.

Even the slightest movement made that rumbling inside her louder till I felt like pissing myself. Everyone, but Aang took a few steps back in fear. Zuko and Toph who where usually the ones not to show weakness; looked almost as frightened as me. Sokka inched closer to Katara to protect her if anything happened.

Sokka slowly began to draw his sword Kyra knew what he was thinking and she put one paw forward, waiting.

"Don't!" I whispered harshly, making a short hand motion for him to let go of the sword.

He slowly let go of the hilt, but still kept his hand in position. Then Kyra's eyes snapped to Aang, inspecting him.

Apparently Aang had made up his mind on what he was going to do, because he carefully walked toward Kyra waiting at least three seconds before taking another step. He calmly lowered his glider to the ground and brought his two hands up as he straightened himself. Putting one hand behind his back he thrust his palm downward signaling to drop any weapons we had. Katara dropped her water pouch, Sokka reluctantly lowered his boomerang and sword along with Toph who dropped the boulder she held elevated.

"We're your friends. Don't you remember us?" asked Aang setting his arms at his side, "It's me, Aang . . . Kyra I know you're in there somewhere, listen to my voice." He stepped up with every word he spoke and Kyra's growls seemed to dwindle, "Fight it, don't let this control you," he outstretched his arms showing the bloody bodies around him, "this isn't you. I know you can beat this, look inside you."

Now Aang was only inches away from Kyra. Her wolf ears clamped against her head, and she whimpered quietly when Aang held her large wolf head between his caring hands, forcing deep gold to meet stormy grey.

Kyra's eyes changed to her original color at the same rate as her body changed back to human. He drew her into a hug as she closed her eyes letting tears fall freely. She buried her face into Aang's tunic, sobbing painfully. Shivering she breathed short breaths, shaking.

I sank to my knees and cried as well. I wanted to comfort Kyra, but I knew she needed to have this one moment of comfort from one of her greatest friends. Katara walked towards me; sitting down she hugged me as I cried while returning the hug.

I heard Kyra faintly mumble words as she rocked back and forth while hugging Aang, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she could barely finished her sentence as another wave of tears fell from her cheeks.

He comfortingly shushed her, "It's ok, you're ok."

After a few moments Katara, Toph, Sokka, and I joined in on the hug with Kyra and Aang. Each of our cheeks shined with fresh tears. Shadow, Momo, and even Appa joined in on the hug. Zuko awkwardly inched toward us and I grabbed him by the gruff of his shirt collar and forced him into the group hug. He stiffened, but eventually warmed into the hug and I thought I could even see a single tear in the corner of his scarred eye.

When we finished having our little moment Kyra almost instantly passed out. At first Aang was worried but then Katara explained, after a quick inspection of her wounds, that Kyra almost had all of her ribs broken this time along with a sprained ankle and a concussion. The whole group was surprised that she could even fight earlier with such injuries, but she did it; she defied the odds that were obviously stacked against her.

As we all piled up on Appa and I carried Kyra to the saddle I silently thanked the spirits that she was ok and hope for her to have a quick recovery.

We all planned to go to the Western Air Temple, because going to Ember Island would not have been a good choice since Azula and likely Ozai knew of Kyra and her ability. Plus the crucial fact that she was traveling with the Avatar made being in the fire nation a death wish.

The fluffy sky bison flew lazily through the sky as the horizon turned a bright orange-red signifying the soon rising of the sun. Everyone but Katara, Aang, and I were asleep. All was quiet except for three loud choruses of snorts coming from Shadow, Sokka, and Toph. The sight was hilarious despite the fact that they all had disgusting drool dripping from their mouths. Shadow was lying on his back with his paws in the air. One of his paws pushed up against Sokka's face making his lips pucker up as if he was in the process of kissing someone. Toph lied to Shadow's right; while shadow had his paw against Sokka, his head was turned to Toph and every once in a while he would lick Toph's slightly closed mouth.

Trying to hold in my laughter I nudged Katara with my right elbow and pointed at the trio. She covered mouth with her hand, giggling. Then she gasped startling Momo from his sweet slumber in Katara's lap.

"You're hurt," she said, lifting my right arm.

"Oh . . . um it's nothing, really."

She bended water from her pouch, making it cover her entire hand glowing a bright blue color. Placing the water onto my wound she slowly moved it along the burn until it looked light pink contrasting with my unusually tan skin. When she removed the water, bending it back to her pouch I inspected my newly healed burn with wide eyes.

"Wow, that's amazing!" I exclaimed, in a loud whisper.

She blushed slightly and I turned to her staring into blue eyes a bit lighter than mine. Right then something clicked in my mind and now it was my turn to blush as I looked away.

Katara raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Uh, err . . ." I suddenly became increasingly fascinated with my grey vest, fiddling with the edges, "nothing, it's just you look beautiful is all." I finally managed to blurt out.

I saw her cheek turn redder and she looked away to Aang who fell asleep next to Kyra, snuggling close to her. Both of them had a content expression on their faces, seeming nothing could disturb them from their blissful and long awaited rest.

Smiling she asked, "They've become real close haven't they?"

Following her gaze a smile crept onto my face, "Yeah, literally. I mean, Aang wouldn't leave her side even for a second after she passed out. Talk about clingy."

She stifled a giggle at my humor, which made me flash a wide grin her way. She truly was beautiful her blue eyes standing out more against her dark tan. Her shining, black colored hair cascading over her shoulders and down her back like a smooth water fall; again we were left staring at each other until Toph decided to test out her bluntness.

"Enough with the gushy fluff other there, I can hear your heart beats from all the way over here," complained Toph, only fueling the awkwardness.

Then she touched her mouth and felt the stickiness on her fingers, "And this better be my own drool 'cause if not then a certain fury animal is gonna learn how to fly today."

Katara and I burst into laughter as we watched Shadow open his eyes in horror at Toph's threat and then running over a startled Sokka and Zuko, a paw greeting each of the guys' groins. Sokka's and Zuko's eyes imitated Shadows as they held their groins with watery eyes.

Wiping an imaginary tear from my eye I chuckled, "Some wake up call, huh guys?"

My smile dissapeared off my face as I now held my groin joining Sokka and Zuko rocking on the saddle, "Toph, why?" I squeaked, my voice unusually high.

She shrugged and simply replied, "Share the love, you share the pain Spunky."

"I hate you." I said, in that same high pitched voice.

Toph and Katara laughed hysterically at my voice and pain, while I swore and grumbled under my breath. _Thank the spirits at least one man was spared of this pain today._

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**So tell me what you thought! I tried VERY hard to make this chapter better than the one before, since I got a reveiw that said it was my best chapter yet- (Thnx, 'Sapafiregirl' !) I was determined to make this chap even better, but that's for the readers to decide. **

**(Just to let you guys know, on a side note I'm going to keep Kyra and Aang on a best friend level and slowly build on their relationship, We'll se where this goes. I'M SO EXCITED! EEEEP!- Yeah, ignore that I've been drinking a lot of coffee today O.o)**

**Please tell me if this chapter is any better than the last, cause I need to know! By the way I checked my hits on this story and I have well over 300 hits and 121 visitors, O.o I know you readers are out there! o.O**

**Thnx for reading and PWEASE reveiw! (I know you're there, 0_O) lol XD **


	10. Chapter 10: Recovery With Regret Part 2

** PHEW! Finally! I got around to finishing chapter ten! Sorry it took so long, but you know how highschool is. I had almost zero time to do my writing and when I did have time, it was only enough to write a few paragraphs. BUT! I finally said enough, and buckled down Friday and finished this chapter. I also made it longer than my usual three thousand words. **

** I have to admit though, I don't think this is my best chapter but hey what do I know! XD Enjoy!**

** Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I do own my imagination AND ideas! (I probably don't own those either XD, JK)**

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**Recovery With Regret Part 2**

Kyra's P.O.V

I opened my eyes finding myself surrounded by black wispy smoke. I didn't feel any pain from where I thought my wounds were as I slowly got up on my feet. Confused and scared I walked forward, unsure of where I was going. After the blow to my ribs I couldn't remember a thing that happened later, but what scared me the most was that I had no idea where I was. I saw nothing familiar about my surroundings; in fact I couldn't see a thing except for the black smoke.

Scanning the area around me, I looked for any living person, preferably my friends, "Ulric?" I yelled out in front of me.

"Aang, Sokka, Katara! Is there anybody here?" I continued.

My heart raced as I quickened my pace hoping to find someone. Suddenly, a shady figure appeared before me. I squinted and hesitantly neared the figure.

"Hello?" I asked.

The shadow became clearer and I was able to recognize this person.

My breath caught in my throat, and I struggled to speak, "D-dad?"

It was him, and he was wearing his battle armor from the day my village was attacked. He stood there looking at me with his deep brown short hair moving in the smoke, as if he were in water.

He had a worried look on his face when he stared at me, "Why didn't you help us?"

"I-I . . ." I didn't know what to think, at this point my brain stopped working and I couldn't form clear thoughts.

"Why did you kill all of those people?" he pleaded.

"What are you talking about? I didn't kill anyone!" I yelled.

Then my whole village materialized behind my father, along with Ulric who appeared next to my dad. Ulric looked angrier as he stared at me; he was wearing his standard dark grey vest with his grey-blue pants and shirt. Same as my father Ulric's jet black short hair wafted as he stood. All of them looked disappointed in me and my response.

"You killed them, you're a monster," spat Ulric, angrily.

Outraged, I turned to my father, "Dad . . ."

"You are not my daughter," my father added, with just as much anger.

Saddened, I stared at my father in disbelief. 'Did he just say that?'

The whole village began to chant "You're a monster" while angrily pointing at me.

I backed away, yelling, "I'm not a monster!"

Turning around I ran the opposite direction, trying as best I could to get away from my so-called father. While glancing behind me, I bumped right into Aang and the rest of the Gaang.

"Oh, thank the spirits you're here. You won't believe what-" I interrupted myself when I saw the dead pan look in Aang's eyes.

They all continued in the same chanting as my village. I took a few steps back in panic.

"No, no, no. NO!"

"No!" I yelled as I shot up in bed.

I put my hand on my forehead and attempted to calm my breathing. Beads of sweat rolled down my face as I surveyed my surroundings. I was inside some kind of old room. There was a bed, and a small desk in the room that had what looked like to be a bowl of food on top of it. Feeling some pressure around my torso I looked down at myself finding that I had bandages wrapped all around me, underneath my torn tunic.

I slowly slipped from under the many blankets covered on top of me. Moving off of the bed I winced at every twinge of pain from my sides; while I struggled to even get up on my feet I thought about what the hell happened to me, because truth be told I had no idea what occurred from the point that I passed out in that chamber. But what really bothered me was that dream I had, I'm pretty sure that I've never killed anyone.

I walked to the door in front of the room and entered a long hallway. Where the hell am I? I moved to the part of the hallway I saw light coming through all the while hugging the wall for support.

When I finally reached the end of the hallway I saw the people I've missed the whole time I was captured. Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Ulric where sitting around a burned out fire talking and eating. I've gotta say when I saw this sight it just made me feel at place again, safe.

Taking one step forward my knees buckled and my face was introduced to the ground . . . again. I still felt some pain around my sides but my ankle was what hurt the most at the moment.

"Ouch." I mumbled into the ground.

Toph lifted her head and grinned, "Hey, look who finally decided to wake up!" she announced excitedly.

Ulric got up on his feet faster than I could blink, hollering, "Kyra! You're awake!"

"Yeah, and now I finally know how the ground tastes like. Can you help me up?" I asked, whilst trying to retract my face from the floor.

Ulric quickly lifted me off the ground and helped me limp to a seat on a fallen pillar. Everyone looked happy I was awake although I still felt a small amount of tension in the air. As I took a better look around, I realized that Aang and Zuko weren't among our group.

"We're so glad you're ok," said Katara, giving me a hug.

Toph leaned back on her arms and added, "I thought you'd never wake up."

"Aang was real worried about you too, probably more so than any of us," interjected Ulric.

I leaned forward slightly holding my side, Aang was worried about me? I thought. I got wrapped up thinking about Aang until my mind finally clicked to the issue at hand, "Whoa, whoa! Why are you guys acting like I haven't been up in months?" I questioned, confused.

Sokka looked at me a bit worriedly, "Well, that's 'cause you were unconscious for about a week now. We thought that you weren't going to wake up after what happened."

Huh? I was asleep for a whole week? I felt like I was still in a dream. Turning to Ulric I stared at him trying to see if this was all just some kind of sick joke. No luck, he was dead serious; actually he even looked a little saddened.

Slouching back I heaved a big sigh of surprise and confusion, "A whole week?" I asked myself, "What exactly happened when you guys came for me?"

"You mean you don't remember?" asked Sokka in amazement.

I shook my head, "I remember seeing Ulric and Aang coming into the chamber, but after that . . . nothing." I answered.

Everyone was quiet as they seemed like they were thinking over what to tell me.

"You're gonna have to tell her sooner or later, Spunky," said Toph, sensing Ulric might not say what he had to.

Ulric leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees, while staring at the ground in thought, "Ok, but you're not going to like what we're about to tell you."

I nodded for him to continue as I leaned back into a comfortable position.

"A soldier named Kai helped us find the room they kept you in, he said he knew you or something, so we followed him." Kai helped? I thought, I should thank him next time I see him, "Some guard beat you unconscious when we got in the room," clenching his fists angrily, he continued, "I took care of him and then Aang and I brought you back outside to take you on Appa and escape. Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko were already out fighting off the guards and soldiers. I put you on Appa and we were ready to go but then more soldiers came out of the fortress building along with Azula," He paused, taking a breath while I listened intently, "Then Azula gave an order to kill us all but Aang, and . . . you jumped out in front of us, in wolf form."

I changed? After all of the injuries I had? My eyebrows knitted together in confusion and I stared at Ulric not exactly eager to know what happened next.

Ulric turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders, "Listen, we were greatly outnumbered, you were trying to protect us. I believe that somehow that inner instincts you have, made you change to protect us." He finished looking straight into my eyes.

I looked at Katara then Sokka then Toph. Sokka and Katara both looked down with sad expressions on their faces, Toph still kept that hardened look on her face but I sensed she was a bit distraught.

Backing away from Ulric's grip, I stood up scared of what actually happened that day, "I killed them, and then I was going to attack you guys," I said in realization, putting a hand on my forehead, "No, no, no." I muttered to myself as all of the memories of what I did came flooding back, the screams of the soldiers, the death . . . and the blood. I was ruthless, merciless as I killed the soldiers effortlessly. And then a memory appeared of me in wolf form, growling at my friends.

Closing my eyes, I hoped to forget what I just saw. Stumbling back a wave of pain went through my sides, as Katara stood to catch me from falling.

"Easy, you're still badly hurt," she warned, while steadying me.

I slowly regained my balance, still trying to process what happened.

"Kyra," started Ulric.

"I'm supposed to be protecting people," I interrupted, "I'm a Guardian, the Avatar's Guardian no less, my job is to protect people and the Avatar. But here I am murdering people instead. And I was going to hurt you guys. . ."

"But you didn't," assured Katara.

That memory flashed in my head again: as I stood there in my wolf form I got this distinct feeling like I wanted to hurt my friends. That feeling scared me.

Ulric opened his mouth to speak, but I didn't want to hear anymore.

"I need some fresh air." I quickly said limping away from the group before anyone could argue.

From what it looked like, we were in the Western Air Temple. I remembered a painting of it in some books I read, and it was a lot more beautiful in person. The temples where all upside down hanging underneath a cliff side, completely hidden from view if you were to look down while high in the sky, although the view was quite amazing it was a shame that some of the temples were falling apart. Looking down there was just darkness. It was far too deep of a crevice to be able to see all the way to the bottom.

Hearing loud thumping of footsteps behind me, I turned facing Appa and Shadow. Momo poked his head out from Appa's head, inspecting me.

Shadow approached me cautiously with his ears and tail down, which made me feel saddened at the fact that he wouldn't come nearer than a few feet. The last thing I needed right now was for Shadow to be afraid of me.

Kneeling down I outstretched my arm, offering Shadow and Appa to sniff my hand.

"Come on guys, I'm not going to hurt you." I coaxed.

Minutes passed as Shadow mulled over whether to come closer or keep his distance, being scared of the monster he saw before.

Finally Shadow walked up to me and licked my face with joy, knowing that he didn't lose his master. I hugged him laughing as Appa came up to lick me, covering me once again in that wet stickiness of his huge tongue. I let go of Shadow when Momo flew down and landed on my shoulder.

"Hey there little guy," I said as I pet him, "at least you guys don't think I'm a monster." I added solemnly, feeling better now than before.

Out of jealousy Shadow chased Momo off my shoulder and ran after him back to the campsite. After a few moments I heard a loud crash along with an annoyed yell from Boomerang Boy, "SHADOW!"

Unable to hold it I broke out in laughter imagining just what exactly Shadow did. It's been awhile since I laughed so it was good to finally be able to let it all out although it hurt my sides like hell.

"I guess that's another one to add to the list of things taken from me." I muttered, clutching my stomach.

Appa nudged me with his nose, grunting. I reached up and lightly scratched the side of his head. I always wondered what flying bison were like, but now I knew that they were very wise and strong. They're like a huge fluffy best friend that would comfort you whenever you'd need it.

I slowly got up, trying not to strain my already hurting body. When I finally managed to stand, I noticed a person running at full speed straight at me. It didn't take me long to figure out that it was Aang cause who else can run that fast without manipulating the air around 'em, besides me of course.

He got closer and closer running, while smiling like he'd just won a million gold pieces. Then I realized he wasn't slowing down. Ooooh shi-, I thought bracing myself for the impact.

"Kyra!" he yelled, excitedly as he hug tackled me to the ground. Ouch.

"You're finally awake, I missed you," he said, as I tried to hide my pain.

But as soon as I looked at Aang's overjoyed face it was like all the pain melted away replaced with this feeling of fluttering butterflies in my stomach, "I've missed you too," I sighed returning the long awaited hug.

Helping me up Aang began to bombard me with questions, "Are you alright? Are you hungry, thirsty, or maybe your cold; I could get you-"

"Aang," I interrupted, "I'm ok but maybe just a bit hungry," I answered, when my stomach gave out a loud growl.

"I'll go get you some food," Aang quickly said and sprinted off to camp.

I was left there smiling and shaking my head at how protective Aang was being. I sat down and stared back out in front of me watching the sun slowly set. I was still angry at myself for killing those people and I was a little scared knowing there might be a possibility that my friends could be endangered because of me.

Why did I have to have such a complicated life? Couldn't I just be a normal person with normal problems? But that's just the case isn't it? I'm not normal, nor do I have any common problems a normal person would have. I'm half human trying to live with the fact that I lost my home, and my family, and I'm this thing that has a job of protecting the Avatar and other people. And yet, I can't even begin to control this animal that seems to be manipulating me instead of the other way around.

I sighed and threw myself backwards, lying down and completely forgetting that my ribs were still healing, "Ow," I said.

Closing my eyes, I tried to relax my sore muscles and just focus on the cool crisp afternoon air. I wished I could air bend, but because of my ribs I can't so much as make a small gust of air without passing out. I wanted to train with Aang and maybe even learn how to fly a glider, but not everything sorts out the way you want it too especially in my situation.

I opened my eyes and saw Aang standing over me with a bowl, "I brought you some vegetable soup," he said, smiling kindly.

Sitting up, he handed me the bowl and sat down next to me, "Thanks," I said; bringing the steaming liquid to my lips and taking a sip.

The soup was hotter than I thought and I managed to burn my tongue, "Ouch, hot," exclaimed, fanning my tongue.

Aang smiled and said, "Here let me help."

Bending a tiny tornado he moved it over the soup and quickly cooled it. I smiled thankfully and this time sipped without burning my tongue.

"What about you, aren't you hungry?" I asked.

He shook his head and patted his belly, "No, I already ate."

We sat in comfortable silence just sitting and staring out at the other temples around us. I liked this type of silence, sitting with a friend spending time together. I was happy I could spend this kind of time with Aang.

"So . . . how are you feeling?" Aang asked, attempting to start up a conversation.

Swallowing, I answered, "Fine. I mean, I'm kind of going through a tough time and I'm confused about some things. But as a whole, I'm ok."

He nodded then stared at the ground, deep in thought, "I know how you feel."

"What about you? I heard you weren't acting yourself during this week." I questioned, trying to see if he really was that worried about me.

He immediately looked up from the ground with rosy cheeks, "Oh, uh . . ." he stuttered, twiddling his thumbs, "I'm fine, happier than ever knowing you're ok."

All I could think was how lucky I was, despite all of the things that happened to me, to have such an amazing friend.

I put down the now empty bowl and turned to Aang, giving him the biggest hug I could ever give. Now I knew that no matter how many times I want to just give up, a good friend is really all you need to realize that things aren't that bad.

Aang returned the hug and we stayed like that for a few minutes. When I let go he stared at me quizzically.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I really don't know what I did to deserve such a great friend like you Aang. I could thank you a million times and it still wouldn't suffice for how much I'm greatful." I replied.

Aang shook his head smiling kindly, "No, I should be thanking you. Kyra you sacrificed you're well being to save us when we were tied up back at Amak. You're the one who had to deal with all these wounds and all of that pain. You are a great friend," he finished.

"I was just trying to do my job as a Guardian, I'm nowhere near as important as you and the rest of the Gaang. That's why there are Guardians, we're expendable but the Avatar isn't."

He took my hands in his and looked into my eyes, "You're just as important as me or anyone else. Just because I'm the Avatar it doesn't make me any more significant a life to save as anyone else's. In my eyes, you're not expendable you are one of a kind and the world would be a horrible place if it lost you," he said with conviction.

Sometimes I forget how much wisdom this preteen holds. One minute he could be as immature and fun-loving as a seven year-old the next he could be as wise as an old Monk.

I nodded, getting misty eyed, "I understand, thank you Aang, again."

"No, thank you," he corrected smiling at me.

I sat back looking up at the sky, and noticed the sun had already set making the air grow colder. Glancing at the dancing shadows of the fire deeper in the temple it seemed more and more welcoming than sitting out in the chilly night.

I rubbed my arms shivering from the frigidness. Noticing my shaking, Aang stood offering me his hand, "Let's get to the fire, I'll help you walk."

Nodding I took his hand and stood up, hopping on one foot. He put my arm around his shoulder and his arm around my waist. My face began to heat up from the contact and upon glancing at Aang; he noticed our closeness as well judging by his bright pink cheeks.

As we entered camp, all faces turned to us and I silently hoped they didn't notice that mine and Aang's face was as red as tomatoes, because I didn't need that kind of attention at the moment.

Of course the universe didn't agree with having things go my way for once.

"Hey why are your faces so red, what happened?" asked, a very annoying Sokka.

As Aang sat down with me looking just as flustered as I was, "Nothing," he answered, a little too fast, "I mean, uh . . . its really cold out."

Sokka nodded, although not fully convinced. But then Toph decided to speak up.

"That's not what I'm feeling," she said, confidently.

I felt like limping over to her and strangling her. Instead, I glared at her hoping she'd get the message even though she's blind. She just always had to say something, didn't she?

"Anyway," said Zuko, when did he get here?

Turning to Aang he said, "We can start training tomorrow."

Aang nodded excitedly, yelling, "Yes!"

For the rest of the conversation they had I didn't pay attention to. I just stared at the fire; thinking about my talk with Aang and most of all I thought about different ways I could go about controlling this wolf in me. The only idea I came up with was meditation, when I was first told I was the Guardian, Lupis began to train me in deep meditation and ways of controlling my emotions but that's as far as I got with his lessons. Maybe Zuko or Aang could help me with this whole emotion control, I thought.

I continued thinking up some options until I was brought out of my revere by Katara.

" . . . right Kyra?" she asked.

I abruptly looked up at Katara, unsure of what she was referring to, "What?"

"While Zuko helps Aang with fire bending you could spar with Aang to keep his other skills up, right?" she explained.

"Oh, um . . . yeah, as soon as I heal; I could use the practice too." I answered.

Out of nowhere I got this sharp pain in my sides, making me wince and curse under my breath. This was the same damn thing as when I first had my ribs broken; they were shifting back in place like before. I straightened myself and refrained from clutching my sides so that no one would worry because, quite frankly, I was tired of people worrying about me so much.

Aang put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me, concerned, "You alright?" he asked, whispering.

I nodded and bit my lip from the pain; then as fast as it had come the pain subsided and I could take a deep breath again.

Damn it! I'm tired of this constant pain!

"Kyra can I talk to you for a minute, alone," said Ulric, more demanding than asking.

Great now he's going to be acting like the big brother, I thought as I slowly followed him outside. As we exited out Ulric abruptly turned around making me almost bump into him.

I hissed in pain from the force push on my ankle as I stopped, "Damn it Ulric!"

Completely ignoring me he said, "What's wrong Kyra, why are you acting this way?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? My ankle hurts, that's what's wrong!" I said, infuriated.

"Kyra I'm serious, ever since you found out you were Guardian you've been acting like a whole different person. Especially now," he said, sternly.

"Well, I have a lot on my mind right now. Sorry if I'm not all daisies and freakin' sunshine ok." I replied turning away.

He reached over and turned me around, "Whatever it is that's bothering you, you need to talk about it. If you don't then you won't feel better."

I shrugged his hand away angrily, "What do you want Ulric? A teary confession about how hard things have been?" I yelled, "Because if it is then you've got it! I miss my dad, I miss Lupis, and I miss home! Ever since I found out about this whole Guardian thing, everything I knew and loved went straight down the gutter," I could feel all of my anger well up inside and being let out through tears.

"You're not the only one whose life has been hard! I never knew my parents and you don't hear me complaining about it," he hollered, releasing his frustrations "but what really hurts me is that I feel like I lost the real Kyra. The Kyra that always cracked corny jokes, and smiled and had fun! I feel like you've been replaced by this monster!" Ulric's anger turned to surprise at what he said.

My breath caught in my throat, as I processed what he said about me. A tear slowly rolled down my cheek while I stared Ulric dead in the eye, "Do you really think we're going through the same thing here? Do YOU know what it's like to be afraid of yourself, to be your own enemy? I was going to hurt you back at the fortress, if it weren't for Aang all of you probably wouldn't be here! It scares me to think that I could possibly have killed what little family I have left."

I turned away from Ulric as he reached forward saying, "Kyra, I'm so-"

"No matter how much I don't want to feel like this, no matter how many times I'm being told that 'I must make the right choice,' I know that I am what I am, so I guess your right Ulric," I said, limping to my room, "Maybe I have been replaced by a monster, but then again I've always been one."

As I slowly made my way to my room, I passed by the rest of the group who seemed puzzled about the tears in my eyes, "What's wrong?" I heard someone ask, but I just ignored them shutting the door to my room and sliding down to the floor covering my face. I wanted all of this to go away and as much as I regretted it, I knew that I just have to fess up and deal with whatever comes my way. Because one day I might not get the chance to enjoy what the little good things I've got.

I hadn't realized I was falling asleep until I was shocked to attention by people arguing from behind the door I was sitting by.

I put my ear against the door and strained to hear what the argument was about, "Katara, I'm not going in that room. She doesn't want to talk to me."

"You need to resolve this if you don't you will regret it," pressed, Katara.

"No, I refuse," said, who I assumed was, Ulric.

"Well too bad, cause you're going to talk to her one way or another," warned the bossy water bender.

"What are you-?"

Sensing trouble I quickly lay down on my bed and pretended like I was staring at the ceiling and not just recently eves dropping. Suddenly I heard a loud splash and Ulric came crashing through the door followed by a few sprays of water. Katara quickly reached in and closed the door before Ulric could recover. There was a soft click from the opposite side of the wooden door and the light echo of footsteps moving away becoming quieter and quieter.

Groaning Ulric pushed himself up off the floor dripping with water, "Sometimes, that water bender is so, ugh!" growled the peeved warrior.

"You got your butt kicked," I said, laughing.

He quickly turned around, looking as if surprised I was in the room, "Kyra listen-"

I raised my hand and slid off the bed, "Ulric, I know that you wanted to talk to me about my little problem but I really don't need to share this right now."

Ulric released the breath he was clearly holding and frowned at me, "I'm sorry I was such a jerk. You had every right to yell at me like you did; I should've been more understanding, because I'll never know what you're going through. You've had it tough lately and I don't know what I was thinking when I said the things I said," he rambled.

"Look, it's all behind us, so let's just try and forget. Forgive and forget; that's my motto." I announced proudly.

Chuckling, he grinned as he gave me a quick hug, "And I did not get my butt kicked."

I stepped back, "Yeah sure, I just imagined you being water bended, by a girl might I add, clear through that door," I teased, pointing towards the door.

"HEY!" he said, "That was a sneak attack those don't count."

"Ok, whatever you say." I replied, much to Ulric's annoyance.

Turning to the door Ulric sighed, "How are we going to get through the door? She locked it from the other side."

"Here," I said walking to it.

He outstretched his arm stopping me, "Wait, I'll do it."

Running at the thick wooden door he attempted to kick it open, but to no avail he only rebounded off of it like a rubber ball, falling to the ground onto his ass.

"Really and you consider yourself to be an all mighty warrior," I said, shaking my head in pity.

"I was trained in the arts of hand to hand combat, I AM A WARRIOR," he reprimanded, while pointing at me.

I approached the door, "Yeah, well I guess you weren't trained in the arts of 'common sense,'" reaching for the door knob I twisted the nozzle that unlocked the door (from the inside) and pulled it open while motioning to the doorway.

He quickly got up and stuttered, "Yeah, but . . . uh . . . I'm older!"

"Pft! You are so immature sometimes, you know that?" I joked, as we slowly headed down the hallway.

"Eh, I try," he replied.

I hugged Ulric saying, "Know what Ulric? You're like the brother I never had."

"And you're like the sister I've always wanted," he added, giving me an extra squeeze.

Putting his arm around my shoulder he led me down the hallway saying, "Now come on, let's go see how everyone else is doing."

"Yep, I'll bet you wanna hang out with Katara now don't you." I questioned, grinning. I knew that he was developing feelings for Katara, but he didn't acknowledge that yet. He's way too easy to figure out sometimes.

Ulric's eyes widened as he gave me a quick glance, "What! No, pft what's you talkin' about?" he said, in a panic.

"Thought so," I said, much to Ulric's frustration.

Ulric sighed, "Why do you have to be such a smart ass?"

"Eh, I try," I replied, hoping Ulric would catch the little joke.

He turned and glared at me unable to think of a decent come-back. I broke out in laughter as we entered camp awarding me a few confused stares from the rest of the group. Ulric only sat down and crossed his arms, pouting like a five year-old. Sometimes he reminded me a lot of Sokka, except he never hurt himself. But then again there's a first time for everything.

* * *

**I'm thinking of rewriting this chap one day and adding a few more things, but right now I just wanted to finally update this story. It's not that bad is it? The chapter I mean.**

** Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll update the next chappy as soon as I can. I'me pretty sure I won't be updating as often, but when I do update the chapters will be fairly long.**

** Please review and tell me what you think! XP**


	11. Author's Note: Urgent!

**I'm very sorry for not updating the next chapter, but I need to let my readers know that I might be starting a different version of A Guardian' Tale. I explain most of it in the prologue that's I've already uploaded. Basicly, I found some earlier notes that I originally wrote before I started the current A Guardian's Tale and I found that it was much better than the other one. **

** But I'm leaving it for the readers to decide. So if you'd like please read 'A Guardian's Tale - Part 1 - The Original Tale' and vote on my poll if I should continue from the original or the one that I currently have most upadated of. I'll take the poll down in a few days and decide by the results. (To be truthful though, I believe 'A Guardian's Tale - Part 1 - The Original Tale' is better written and has a more complex and interesting twist in the story. That's only my thoughts.) You see I'm having some serious writer's block on the tenth chapter of A Guardian's Tale and no matter how hard I try, the chapter I write just isn't fulfilling you know? Like there's not enough character developement and explanation of the whole "Guardian" concept. -The original does better in these listed ways.**

** Anyway, if you'd like please read the prologue of the Original one and vote on my poll. I'm interested to see what you guys want, cause I already have a few chapters of the Original story finished and waiting to be spell checked and updated.**


	12. Author's Note: Start Anew Please Read

**So judging by the poll's results I've decided to write "A Guardian's Tale- Part 1- The Original Tale." To be truthful though, this original idea isn't much different than the one I was working on earlier. The only differences are, more character developement of my OCs, begins from the very first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, plot of Kyra is a bit more complex, and will be much much longer than the other. (I'm sure most will be happy to know that :) .)**

**Yup, so I'll be updating the original tale now and continue with that. I hope those readers that followed this story will continue to follow the original. A big thank you to those of you that voted and please enjoy the New and Original Story of 'A Guardian's Tale'**

**PS = I wont delete this story because I thought it would be nice to look back on it in the future and see how the plot really changed. Plus, I no longer have it in my computer's memory so it'd be a shame to delete it.**

**XD**


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